Barbara’s family is a family of educators. Her mother was a lifetime teacher and school administrator. Her husband, Chip, has served in Fairfax County schools for over a quarter century as a math teacher at Langley and McLean high schools and now, as an Assistant Principal at Oakton High School. Her sister was a counselor at McLean High School. She understands the sacrifice and commitment made by our teachers and educators who have had their salaries frozen while their classroom sizes and workloads increase.

HB 2510, Higher Education Act of 2011: Comstock was a co-patron of a major Higher Education bill, which was passed unanimously in the General Assembly. This initiative will enable our institutions to meet the goal of issuing an additional 100,000 degrees over the next 15 years, making Virginia one of the most highly educated states in the nation and providing our state with a workforce that will attract top jobs. Based on this legislation, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors is poised to add nearly 1,000 new spaces for in-state students that will help many of our top students in Northern Virginia get into our top schools. Other Virginia colleges and universities will be providing additional in-state slots. The legislation also places a greater emphasis on high demand science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects through the formation of a public-private partnership that will engage the business and professional community in leveraging best practices for K-12 and higher education.

HB 2204, Teacher Bonus: Comstock introduced legislation this year that would have allowed local school divisions to have the flexibility to use any unexpended state funds to provide a one-time bonus to all teachers of up to three percent of the annual base salary. The House Appropriations Committee incorporated this into the proposed House budget at a bonus rate of 2 percent where it obtained strong bipartisan support. This bill was modeled on a bonus given last year to state employees when they identified savings in the existing budget. While this year’s similar measure for teachers had strong bipartisan support in the House, the Senate opposed providing flexibility to use this option, and it was not included in the final budget.

2010 Session, Local Composite Index Issue (LCI): During the 2010 Legislative Session, Delegate Comstock joined the Northern Virginia delegation in opposing Governor Kaine’s proposed budget that included an unprecedented and arbitrary freeze of the LCI which is used to determine the share of state education funds and is recalculated and updated every two years. To reverse decades of practice was simply bad public policy, fundamentally unfair, and would have cost Northern Virginia $120 million in order to save the state $29 million. This was a top priority issue that occupied many Northern Virginia Delegates, including Comstock, in the first weeks of the session. She worked with PTAs, parents, and the local business community in the 34th District to reverse this action. Our high quality schools are integral to attracting top businesses. The Delegation also wrote a joint a letter to Governor McDonnell urging him to back the move to unfreeze the LCI and supported budget amendments to undo this proposal. Comstock worked with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, members of his Cabinet, and staff about this issue. Delegate Comstock participated in one of the first rallies to oppose the LCI Freeze here in the District at Churchill Road Elementary School where she spoke about the importance of this issue for our community.

All Day Kindergarten: Delegate Comstock worked with parents and school leaders in our community to bring all day kindergarten to all of Fairfax County schools. It was profoundly unfair that 37 schools in Fairfax only had half the kindergarten program that the rest of the students around the county and state receive. Fairfax County parents were dutifully paying their taxes - some of the highest in the county and state - and those revenues were providing all day kindergarten for children throughout most of the county and state. Yet, Fairfax County kindergarten children were denied equal treatment and told to wait... and wait for some undetermined time when they would be treated equally. Comstock worked with school officials and parents to emphasize the need to implement all day kindergarten in the next school year instead of continuing to drag out the full implementation for two or three years as had been previously planned.

HB387- Pulse Oximetry Bill: Delegate Comstock introduced House Bill 387 during the 2014 General Assembly Session to help save the lives of newborn babies by expanding screening for critical congenital heart defects in Virginia's hospitals.  This non-invasive test uses sensors placed on the infant’s hand and foot to check blood oxygen levels. If the levels are too low, additional tests are then conducted to diagnose critical life-threatening heart deficiencies that might otherwise go undetected. New research even suggests that when all infants are screened using pulse oximetry in conjunction with routine practices, CCHD can be detected in over 90% of newborns. Critical congenital heart defects can result in death or disability if left undetected.

House Bill 387 ensures that simple pulse oximetry screening for critical congenital heart defects is performed on every baby prior to discharge as the new standard of care in the Commonwealth. House Bill 387 passed the House of Delegates and the Senate and is now law.  By ensuring that all newborns are screened for these life-threatening conditions before leaving the hospital, House Bill 387 will help save lives.

ENERGY

Offshore Drilling: During the 2010 Legislative Session Delegate Comstock and the General Assembly passed legislation, which was signed by Governor McDonnell, to allow for exploration and drilling off the coast of Virginia to go forward. In addition to this, Delegate Comstock introduced HB 900, which was incorporated into HB 756 to allocate 80% of future offshore royalties and revenues to transportation and the remaining 20% to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, which researches and develops renewable energy solutions. This bill was a critical component for both energy independence and providing for a dedicated revenue stream for much needed transportation funds for Northern Virginia.

In March of 2010 Delegate Comstock joined 52 of her colleagues in the House of Delegates in sending a letter to Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Ken Salazar, urging Secretary Salazar and the administration to move forward in allowing Virginia to begin environmentally responsible offshore energy exploration and development. It is significant that the effort to move forward with environmentally safe offshore drilling received strong bipartisan support in the General Assembly, from the majority of Virginia’s Congressional Delegation, and from Virginia’s two Senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb.

Following the passage of the legislation to allow for exploration and drilling off the coast of Virginia, President Obama announced that Virginia would be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce natural gas and oil offshore. This would provide thousands of new jobs, hundreds of millions in new state revenue, and a long-term source of revenue for our transportation needs. It would also make Virginia a key partner in moving the country towards energy independence. While the President then imposed the drilling moratorium in June 2010, Senators Warner and Webb recently introduced The Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2011 to open up Virginia’s coast to offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production, increase the area open to that exploration and production, and provide the Commonwealth with 50% of all leasing revenues derived from offshore operations. The legislation would begin the offshore exploration and production in 2012.

2010 Session, HB 389, Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority: Delegate Comstock was a sponsor of a bill to creates the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority, which will facilitate and support the development of the offshore wind industry and wind-powered electric energy facilities located off the coast of the Commonwealth beyond the Commonwealth's three-mile jurisdictional limit. The Authority is charged with, among other tasks: identifying existing state and regulatory or administrative barriers to the development of the offshore wind industry; collecting metocean and environmental data; upgrading port facilities to accommodate the manufacturing and assembly of project components and vessels that will support such projects; and applying to the U.S. Department of Energy for loan guarantees for such projects.

2010 Session, HB 803, Green Jobs Tax Credit: Delegate Comstock sponsored a bill to create a $500 income tax credit for the creation of "green" jobs paying an annual salary in excess of $50,000. This tax credit was designed to encourage more alternative energy entrepreneurs to make Virginia their home.