Politics & Government

Watts, Barker Agree Va. Wrong On Womens' Health Issues

Event hosted by Greenspring Republican and Democrat Clubs.

Virginia Delegate Vivian Watts (D-VA-39) and Sen. George Barker (D-VA-39) presented a review of the Commonwealth's 2012 legislative session to a joint meeting of the Republican and Democrat clubs last week.

In response to audience members' concern about bills regarding women's health decisions, both Watts and Barker said the “personhood bill” (HB1) and the mandatory ultrasound bills (HB462 and SB484) before the assembly this year were overreaching. 

"In opposing HB462, the Virginia Medical Society pointed out that this is the first time medical procedure in Virginia will be dictated by law," said Watts.  "Actually it's the second. The first was the forced sterilization of 'mentally ill or deficient' persons between 1924 and 1979," she said.

Find out what's happening in Burkewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Watts focused on transportation, presenting highlights of her presentation titled Virginia Transportation 2012: Quicksand at the Bottom of the Well (See attached pdf)

"We see an awful lot of headlines and an awful lot of promises," said Watts.  Watts said her presentation was meant to provide the facts.  "If anyone reading the report sees any mistakes, they should let me know," she said.

Find out what's happening in Burkewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Her recommendations include:

  • Having users of Virginia's transportation structure pay for its expansion and maintenance, instead of taking money from other budget needs. "Well over 20 percent of Virginia highway users are out-of-state visitors," she said.
  • Indexing the gas tax.  She said the state is $8 billion in the hole because it has not indexed the gas tax.

Barker said he'd received a lot of criticism for not voting for a budget before the end of the session. 

"There were nine Republicans and six Democrats on the budget committee in the Senate," he said.  "We could not have a budget passed by one party." 

Coming together after the regular session, the parties agreed to work together on a budget.  "The delay led us to work together to draft a budget through a balanced process, and we ended up with a better budget," said Barker.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here