Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership Releases Its 2014 General Assembly Legislative Scorecard
Northern Virginia (PRWEB) July 17, 2014 -- The Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership today released its inaugural Virginia General Assembly Legislative Scorecard, a report that details the voting records of the Partnership’s Senate and House of Delegates members on the bills that address the issues outlined in the Partnership’s 2014 Legislative Agenda.
Comprised of the Dulles Regional, Greater Reston and Loudoun County chambers of commerce, the Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership recently completed its fifth year of working in Richmond to represent the economic and quality of life interests of the businesses and residents in Loudoun County and western Fairfax County.
“As the voice of business for our region, our Partnership actively engages our legislators on issues such as education reform, economic development, job growth, transportation, and other pro-business issues. As a follow-up to the General Assembly, the Partnership decided to do a Legislative Scorecard to keep Northern Virginia employers and citizens informed about how our legislators are voting on the issues that matter to business. As we expected, we were very pleased to see that our General Assembly delegation, as a whole, has been extremely supportive of the Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership’s economic prosperity and quality of life agenda," said Dulles Regional Chamber President and CEO Eileen Curtis.
The Scorecard only reflects votes taken during the regular General Assembly session and only those votes that took place on the floor of the House and/or Senate. Many members of the Partnership’s delegation provided leadership in defeating legislation that was in conflict with the Partnership’s priorities, which is not reflected in the Scorecard in most cases given those bills did not receive a floor vote. Prior to all floor votes, the Partnership communicated its position on each bill and reminded the legislators that these bills would be included in the Scorecard.
“Scorecards are a valuable tool to communicate how our legislators are voting on those bills that do make it to a floor vote in each respective body in a quantifiable way. That being said, they are imperfect as they don’t take into account factors such as: sponsoring bills, speaking for or against bills, votes in committee and offering pro-business amendments. But we do believe this format is the most straightforward way of identifying legislator’s support for the Partnership’s initiatives,” said Greater Reston Chamber President & CEO, Mark Ingrao.
In addition, while not included in the Scorecard as an actual vote that could be scored, the Partnership considers every legislator’s work “incomplete,” given they failed to pass a budget during the regular General Assembly session, and did not resolve the issue of providing health insurance to 400,000 uninsured Virginians.
“We are proud to unveil this Legislative Scorecard to provide our members and the communities we represent with a better understanding of how our state legislators are voting on the issues that will impact the economy and quality of life in Northern Virginia. While most legislators earned high marks for their voting records on the Partnership’s priorities, each of them deserves an incomplete grade for failing to leverage billions in Federal aid to adopt a market-based approach to expanding health care coverage for all Virginians,” said Loudoun County President & CEO Tony Howard.
The purpose of the Scorecard is to help Northern Virginia’s business leaders recognize those legislators who support the Partnership’s efforts to improve the business climate and quality of life in Northern Virginia and to promote a dialogue with those legislators whose votes don’t align with Partnership priorities.
To view the complete Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership 2014 Scorecard, please click here http://www.restonchamber.org/pdf/2014GRCC_Scorec.pdf.
To view the Scorecard criteria, please click here http://www.restonchamber.org/reston-chamber/northern_virginia_chamber_partnership.aspx.
About the Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership
The Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership is a collaboration between the Dulles Regional, Greater Reston and Loudoun County chambers of commerce. The Partnership collectively represents more than 2,800 businesses and 100,000 jobs, providing an unparalleled voice for Northern Virginia’s business community in Richmond.
Mark Ingrao, Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce, http://www.restonchamber.org, +1 (703) 303-3128, [email protected]
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