Civil Justice

 

The Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce (FRCC) supports measures to reduce the burden of excessive litigation and to improve our competitive position in world markets.  Therefore, the Chamber supports the following:

 

• Retention of the doctrine of contributory negligence.  Under this doctrine, injured persons who contribute to their own injury are barred from collecting damages.

 

• Retention of the current statutory cap on punitive damages and the current criteria for being awarded punitive damages.

 

• Legislation to abolish joint and several liability.  Under current law, a single defendant may be required to pay an entire award if other responsible parties are unable to pay.

 

• Retention of the current statutory limitations on awards for medical malpractice. 

 Economic Development

 

The creation of jobs and wealth through expansions of existing companies and the attraction of new business activity has been the heart of theFredericksburg area’s long-term prosperity.

 

The Chamber supports the following:

 

• Strong and persistent support for well-funded, cohesive and aggressive economic development effort.

• A business incentives policy aligned with Fredericksburg area’s time-honored sense of fiscal discipline that is applied evenhandedly to existing and prospective businesses.

 

• Recognition that a skilled, trainable and technically competent labor force is the most persuasive location factor sought by industry today and putting in place programs and policies to achieve such a workforce statewide. 

 

• An environmental regulatory climate that is consistent, predictable and understood by the regulated community as well as responsive to the needs of new and existing business.  Fredericksburg area’s regulatory climate should commensurate with its surrounding jurisdictions.

 

• Continued responsiveness to the needs of small business and existing industry.

Education

 

The Chamber believes that a strong education system and the availability of a technically skilled and trained workforce are vital to our area’s future prosperity and quality of life.

 

To realize such a quality in the area schools, the Chamber supports the following:

 

• Facilitating the active involvement of businesses and business people in the administrative, teaching and enrichment activities of schools and on state and local boards, policymaking bodies and advisory groups.

 

• Making classroom performance and student achievement the major criteria for teacher retention and reward, including pay and recognition.

 

• Ensuring that students at all education levels have appropriate understanding of the career options available to them and how to prepare for them.

 

• Promoting smooth transitions for students from high school to and among programs and institutions for job or technical training, community colleges and four-year degree institutions without undue loss of time, money or earned credit.

 Higher Education 

 

The Chamber has consistently advocated strong state support for its colleges and universities in preparing more and better skilled workers and in conducting the research and development that assists Fredericksburg area’s economy.  Continual investments must be made at a level that will ensure these goals.

  

Specifically, the Chamber supports efforts to:

 

• Provide adequate operating budgets, based on the General Assembly’s guideline, for the high-quality education of current postsecondary students and the major portion of the anticipated additional enrollment demand of 61,000 students.

 

• Increase higher education focus on requirements associated with future workforce needs.

 

• Provide more state support for certified training programs offered by community colleges.

 Environment

 

The Chamber supports efforts to ensure a clean and healthy environment, including reasonable measures to recover and reclaim, as well as to conserve and maintain valuable natural resources.

 

DEQ Decision making

 

• The Chamber supports a constructive partnership between the regulated community and the DEQ in the administration of the environmental laws.

• Agency decisions should be practical, consistent and predictable; considerate of economic impacts and supported by legal authority and sound science.

 DEQ and EPA

 

• The Chamber urges the Department to secure and maintain authority from EPA over appropriate environmental programs to be administered by the Commonwealth.

 

• The Chamber supports continued financial support of the Chesapeake Bay Act and its tributaries.

 

• The Chamber supports the continuation of the Virginia tax credit for Conservation Easements as a market based approach for preserving land resources in the Commonwealth for future generations by providing developers, farmers, other land owners and businesses incentives and compensation for their conservation activities on a voluntary basis.

 

Government

 

The Dillon Rule

 

• The Chamber supports the retention of the Dillon Rule whereby the General Assembly retains the sole right to authorize local government policy on all major issues, including taxation, environmental and other government regulations, public sector collective bargaining and land use.

The Governor’s Term

 

• The General Assembly should approve a constitutional amendment that would allow Virginia’s future governors to seek a second consecutive term.

 The Legislative Process

 

• The increase in bills introduced in each legislative session threatens to overwhelm the process, precluding thorough and necessary analysis of proposals.  The Chamber urges individual member to exercise restraint in introducing legislation and urges the leadership to consider and adopt other measures to alleviate the problem.

 Privatization 

 

• Government should avoid competing with private business and industry absent a compelling public interest.

 Regional Cooperation

 

• The Chamber supports and encourages regional cooperation among adjoining localities, particularly where significant economies of scale can be achieved. 

  

Cooperative regional efforts can assist localities in providing appropriate services, implementing legitimate government programs, responding to citizen expectations and meeting the challenges of devolution.

 

Growth

 

The cornerstone of the Chamber’s position on growth is our support for the creation of jobs and wealth thorough expansions of existing companies and the attraction of new business activity to our area.  We believe that the Fredericksburg area has the will and the tools necessary to ensure sensible growth throughout the Commonwealth.  These tools must be sharpened to reduce congestion, preserve open space, provide infrastructure as it is needed and to create a process that allows Virginians to work, live and play in a health environment.  Virginians have always valued the right to live and work where they choose.  Patterns of business and residential development have changed over time and are expected to continue to change in the technological age.  As regions become the unit of economic competitiveness, we must support and encourage cooperation among and between the localities so that the unique potential of every region in Virginia can be realized.

 

The Chamber of Commerce supports the following:

 

• The rights of Virginians to choose where they live, work and play consistent with the principals of a market driven economy.  While comprehensive land use planning is encouraged, it must be flexible and responsive to the dynamic forces that shape communities in the new era of the competitive global marketplace.

 

• Regional cooperation among adjoining localities in order to allow for economic development and shared economies of scale in service delivery.  Economy and efficiency should be encouraged in all areas of government operations including public works and utilities, public safety, education, housing and human services. 

 

The provision of the needed infrastructure to allow communities to plan for anticipated growth in economic activity.  Such activity requires improved land for business and corporate parks, residential housing of all types, open space for parks and recreation, and the community facilities to ensure a high quality of life for all of our citizens. However, we specifically oppose 'adequate public facilities' ordinances that are designed to promote a no-growth atmosphere.

 

 

• The planning, construction and maintenance of an improved statewide multi-modal transportation system that is need-based, cohesive, integrated and interconnected.

 

• A comprehensive review of local tax structure to ensure that it is equitable and broad based and fosters a favorable business climate and encourages economic development.  Because the tax revenue available to many of the Fredericksburg area’s fastest growing communities does not allow for the concurrent provision of infrastructure, the Commonwealth must identify and implement ways to ensure that localities have the resources to build the roads, schools and utility and public safety systems necessary to serve existing and new residents.

 Healthcare

 

The Chamber supports increased access to quality health care that is affordable for all in the Fredericksburg area.  Improvements in access, quality and affordability are best achieved through targeted, market-based reform measures that rely principally on the disciplines of the marketplace rather than government regulation.  The Chamber opposes legislative or regulatory actions that interfere with marketplace efforts to improve quality and control costs through managed care systems, restricts choices for purchasers and consumers, adds to the cost of healthcare and health insurance and increases the uninsured population.

 

The Chamber supports:

 

• Reform in the commercial insurance market to facilitate the availability of affordable insurance but opposes incremental intrusions mandates which drive up costs and increase administrative burdens.

 The retention of ERISA preemptions and opposes mandated benefits.

 

• The formation of purchasing pools free of benefits mandates to facilitate the purchase of insurance by small employers.  Properly structured to self-insure and fully insure, these pools will afford small purchasers the benefits of economies of scale, bargaining power, uniformity and comparability of options and reduced administrative costs.

 The collaborative efforts of healthcare stakeholders – providers, purchasers, insurers and consumers – to ensure continued innovation and creativity in the private marketplace to devise delivery systems and mechanisms that contain costs, ensure accessibility to quality care, diminish complexity, enhance choice and which are measurably accountable to consumers and purchasers.

 

 Taxation & Fiscal Policy

 

Business Professional Occupational License Tax (BPOL)

 

• The Chamber requests that the General Assembly pass legislation that requires any jurisdiction utilizing a BPOL Tax to exclude the indexed amount from the taxable amount.

 Property Taxes

 

• The Chamber supports the uniform assessment of property taxes at fair market value.

• It opposes any effort to amend Virginia’s Constitution to permit localities to establish a classification system for real property allowing for different tax rates or assessment ratios for residential and commercial/industrial property, or caps on assessment growth.

   Transportation

 

The Chamber supports transportation improvements that recognize the importance of developing a comprehensive solution using multiple modes of transportation in the most effective configuration including roads, rail and mass transit.  It is also essential the Commonwealth take full advantage of new technologies, telecommuting and other innovative tools.

 

The Chamber believes that transportation is the most important issue impacting commerce and trade for our region. We request that adequate funding, taking into consideration our close proximity to Northern Virginia and our continued regional population growth, that the Fredericksburg Region be given priority consideration for transportation funds.

 

 We encourage the General Assembly to develop a long-range, sustainable funding plan dedicated to transportation to include user fees, such as toll roads and fuel tax indexing, as well as private sector investment in roads, commuter rail, and mass transit.

 

• We support efforts to protect the integrity of the Transportation Trust Fund.
• We support initiatives that develop regional transportation pilot projects, using appropriate funding formulas.
• We respectfully request that the General Assembly investigate the merits of the Fredericksburg Region becoming a Transportation and or a Toll Authority. 

Workplace

 

Drug Testing in the workplace

 

• The Chamber believes it is the right of every employee to work in an environment that is safe and free from the illegal use, possession, distribution or manufacture of controlled substances.  Therefore the Chamber supports employer adoption and implementation of drug-free workplace policies and opposes efforts that limit and employer’s ability to ensure a drug-free workplace.

 Employment-at-Will

 

• The Chamber strongly supports the employment-at-will doctrine and opposes efforts to weaken it.

Right-to-Work Law

 

• The Chamber supports the Commonwealth’s “right-to-work” law and opposes efforts to repeal or modify it.

 

• The Chamber opposes the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

Unemployment Compensation

 

• The Chamber supports the Commonwealth’s unemployment compensation law, the primary purpose of which is to provide adequate and temporary financial assistance to employees who become unemployed through no fault of their own.

 

• The Chamber opposes efforts to extend benefits to workers who through their own actions or inactions become unemployed as a result of an employer initiated lockout or an employee strike.

 Worker’s Compensation

 

• The Chamber opposes any changes to the state workers’ compensation law that will undermine its basic concept and sound balance.  Objectionable changes include: redefinition of a work-related injury, alteration of the exclusive remedy provisions of the law, broadened coverage to encompass conditions not clearly arising out of and composition of the panel from which an employee selects a treating physician, mandated health care coverage during a compensable disability and provision of death benefits to persons other than statutory dependents.

 Workforce Training

 

The Chamber believes that workforce training programs and the availability of technically skilled people are vital to the Fredericksburg area’s future prosperity and quality of life. 

The Chamber also recognizes the critical responsibility of business and industry to ensure that schools and workforce training programs are of the highest quality.  The Chamber commit to providing leadership for business cooperation with our educational institutions and those that provide workforce training services by communicating needs and expectations and by sharing resources.

 

The Chamber recognizes that the availability of a technically skilled, trainable labor forces is the most persuasive location factor sought by business today and seeks to establish programs and policies that will achieve such a workforce across the state.

 

In so doing the Chamber supports:

 

• Continued development in the Virginia Community College System of center of excellence that build on Virginia’s basic industrial advantages.

 Coordination of the Commonwealth's workforce development system to optimize understanding and access for both potential employees and employers.

 

• A multi-faceted approach to workforce development involving K-12, vocational and proprietary schools, apprenticeship programs and public and private two and four-years institutions, which could include certification of general work place readiness and certification of specific skills and competencies.