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Gambling on the Elizabeth

Even before the start of the legislature in January, Senator L. Louise Lucas, a Portsmouth Democrat, has introduced a slew of bills which has set the stage for gambling in Virginia.

Revenue from gambling, as the Democratic senator from Portsmouth is hoping, will generate revenue for impoverished Portsmouth and Norfolk and reduce the tolls on the tunnels and the Martin Luther King Freeway (soon to be an oxymoron).

Lawmakers are loathe to grant independent authority to localities, especially if it involves money, so Lucas introduced a bill to allow gambling for localities if 50 percent of their tax base is tax exempt.

The thought of new revenue has electrified Norfolk officials, who immediately jumped on Lucas' idea. 

So Lucas introduced another bill where the threshold was 40 percent, well within Norfolk’s range of tax exempt properties.

SB 687:  Creation of the Virginia Casino Gaming Commission

SB 689: Creation of the Virginia Casino Gaming Commission

SB 726: Definition of Poker

SB 695:  Va. Toll Relief Act and Va. Casino Gaming Commission

 SB 696: Va. Toll Abatement Act and Va. Casino Gaming Commission

SB 697: Va. Transportation Enhancement and Toll Abatement Act and Va. Casino Gaming Commission

SB714:  Va. Toll Mitigation Act & Virginia Casino Gaming Commission

Not every locality will meet the threshold. Virginia Beach, for example, wouldn’t qualify.

But how long would it take for Virginia Beach or Chesapeake, affluent localities, to agitate for their share of the gambling pie?

Electoral Evisceration

Sen. Bill Carrico, a Republican from southwest Virginia, in a reform-minded frame of mind, has proposed a solution to the electoral college debate, often a repeated and heated discussion a presidential election.  

Virginia’s electoral votes shall be allocated by congressional district, his bill, SB723, proposes. 

In other words, voters in Virginia’s congressional districts will determine the state’s slate of presidential electors. 

How electors are chosen varies by state. 

In Virginia, the political parties (or independent candidates) submit to the State's chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their candidate for president and equal in number to the State's electoral vote, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections. 

Usually, the major political parties select these individuals either in their State party conventions or through appointment by their State party leaders while third parties and independent candidates merely designate theirs, the Board says.