Legislative News

By Lauren Schmitt
Commonwealth Strategy Group

Conclusion of 2019 Legislative Session
The 2019 General Assembly Session officially wrapped up on April 3, after the legislature met for the “reconvene session.” This is where they vote to accept or reject the Governor’s actions on the budget and other bills. We had a major victory concerning harmful budget language creating a balance billing workgroup. The original language was troublesome: the workgroup was non-inclusive and the scope was extremely limited. The physician community opposed this language and asked the Governor to amend it. We were thrilled that the Governor did as we requested and amended the language to something we support. We are happy to report that it worked! Despite a last-minute effort by the health plans to thwart our efforts, both the Senate and House of Delegates voted to accept the Governor’s amendment.

Legislator of the Year
Senator Chap Petersen was selected as our 2019 VOS Legislator of the Year. Dr. Jeff Schulman presented the Senator with the award at our Annual Meeting this spring in Washington, DC. The Senator was chosen for his long history of being a champion for patients in Virginia and his strong support of COPN reform. The Senator has been a leader in his caucus on COPN reform and been a vocal member of the Senate Education and Health committee on this issue. In 2018, he carried legislation that would have directly benefitted patients in Northern Virginia by giving them access to high-quality, lower-cost care. Senator Petersen is known for doing what he believes is right and best for his constituents despite the politics of an issue. We were honored to have him attend our Annual Meeting and to present him with this award.

MSV Update
MSV hosted its Annual Advocacy Summit on April 26 and its specialty advisory council will be meeting soon to review advocacy proposals by members. We will keep you updated as MSV develops its policy agenda for 2020. The MSV Annual Meeting will be held October 18-20 at the Omni Homestead in Hot Springs.

In other news, MSV has hired a new Assistant Vice President of Government Affairs to replace Ralston King, who left last December. Clark Barrineau began this role on April 29 and previously served as Director of Public Affairs for Capital Results, a government affairs and communications firm in Richmond. We are looking forward to working with Clark and the rest of the MSV team!

2019 Elections
The upcoming November elections will be pivotal for Virginia. It is not an overstatement to say that it may be one of the most critical elections for the Commonwealth in a generation. All 140 seats in the General Assembly – 100 in the House of Delegates and 40 in the Senate – will be on the ballot. Both chambers are under narrow Republican control, 51 to 49 in the House of Delegates and 21 to19 in the Senate of Virginia.

In 2017, control of the House of Delegates was nearly flipped from Republican to Democrat after a “blue wave” reduced the long-time Republican majority from 67 seats to a slim 51-49 edge. Recent federal court decisions have resulted in a House of Delegates redistricting map imposed by the courts that will likely result in more Democratic seats. Retirements, expected vacancies, and up-ticket and primary challengers will further shuffle the political deck.

We fully expect control of both chambers to be at stake this election. Your VOS legislative team has a keen eye and finger on the pulse of the political trends, competitive races and key legislators that we should follow and target this year. If either or both chambers flip, we can expect a noticeable shift in policy. If current partisan control is maintained, incumbents will be calculating whether and how to adjust policy goals and positions.

Ortho-PAC
Our PAC is a critical tool in our advocacy program. It allows us to support legislators who are friendly to our profession and issues in the General Assembly. As you know, every year the legislature considers bills that could potentially impact our profession and patients. A strong PAC provides us the opportunity for our voice to be heard by elected officials in the legislature and executive branch. Our PAC enables us to support legislators who support our profession. Please support our ORTHO-PAC and make your contribution today!