RestonWeb

[Bob Bruhns]

I received this by e-mail from Virginia Delegate Tom Rust.
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Rust Report
January 9, 2009

As I get ready to 'move' to Richmond for the 2009 General Assembly session, I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you how important your opinions are to me. To that end, I invite you to attend one of my Town Hall Meetings on Saturday, January 17 where I will be giving an update of the General Assembly session and answering questions. The meetings will be at:

10:00 am - Park View High School, Library, 400 West Laurel Avenue, Sterling
1:00 pm - Herndon Town Council Chambers, 765 Lynn Street, Herndon
4:00 pm - McNair Elementary School, Library, 2499 Thomas Jefferson Drive, Herndon

The Fairfax County General Assembly Delegation is holding a public hearing on January 10 at 9:00 am. For more information or to sign up please call 703-324-3151.

I am also conducting District Survey and I invite you to visit my website www.tomrust.org and click on Take Tom's District survey.

2009 Legislation

At this point, I will be introducing the following pieces of legislation this session and I thought you might be interested in knowing what they will be. As of today, three have already been filed, which means you can log onto http://legis.state.va.us and get detailed information on the bills. Those bills are as follows:

HB1724: This bill provides that local ordinances requiring "second signatures" before trespassing vehicles can be towed away only apply if the tow is performed during the normal business hours of the owner of the property from which the vehicle is towed.

HB1725: This bill authorized Virginia Tech and William and Mary to invest and manage endowment funds, endowment income, gifts, and all other nongeneral fund reserves and balances as well as local funds of or held by the College or University.

HB1726: This bill allows coverage under a group life insurance policy to be extended to insure any class of persons as may mutually be agreed upon by the insurer and the group policyholder.

Other bills which are being updated include:

Transportation Corridors: This bill would require the Commonwealth Transportation Board to establish transportation corridors in connection with the establishment of the Statewide Transportation Plan.

Tolling of highways: This bill would require the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability to study the development of a plan to toll certain highways.

Transient occupancy tax: This bill would clarify that the additional transient occupancy tax does not apply within the limits of any town located in Fairfax County.

Driving without an operator's license: This bill would provide that a person who is found to be driving a motor vehicle without an operator's license, having been previously convicted of such an offense, shall have his motor vehicle impounded. Persons under 18 years of age with expired licenses of less than one year are exempted.

Business, Professional, occupational license tax: The bill would allow the Town of Herndon to levy the BPOL tax on any person, firm,or corporation engaging in the business of renting real property.

School Construction Revolving Fund: The bill would create the Virginia School Construction Revolving Fund for financing elementary, secondary, or vocational education school projects.

Allocation of highway maintenance funds: This bill would provide a method by which the Commonwealth Transportation Board is to allocate additional funds for highway maintenance in the event of insufficiency of funds in the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund.

Contact person for vacant property: This bill is at the request of Fairfax County and will require the owner of the foreclosed property to provide a point of contact so the owner can be notified to keep the property in satisfactory condition.

I am also chief co-patron of the following bills:

HB1669: Requires that 50 percent of the growth in income taxes be returned to the point of origin for school and transportation needs.

HB1723: Revises the formula for allocating the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund.

You may notice that my legislative agenda is less than last year - the House of Delegates has limited the number of bills to 15 that can be introduced.

Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project

I am happy to report that Metro to Dulles has received final approval for Phase I from the Department of Transportation. This accomplishment is thanks to many hard working individuals, who have the foresight and fortitude to see this project become reality. I look forward to the day when we're able to ride the rails to Washington!

Retirement of Senator Warner and Congressman Davis

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Senator John Warner and Congressman Tom Davis for their service to Virginia and the United States. Together they represent 44 years of service in Congress. I wish them the very best as they move to the next phase of their lives! Job well done!

Calendar

During December, I met with constituents, as well as representatives of various organizations (autism, Chamber of Commerce, Fairfax County Retired Teachers Association, Jewish Community Relations Council, and environmental groups). I also attended several committee meetings (JCOTS, No Va Regional Health Information Organization, Commonwealth Competition Council, No Va Transportation Comm., and No Va Transportation Authority). I was happy to take a tour of the Jeanie Schmidt Free Clinic with Doug Gray of the Virginia Association of Health Plans, who presented them a check for $3000!

I look forward to representing the 86th District during the 2009 General Assembly session, and if you would like to contact me during session, please call me at 804-698-1086. We are also in the process of organizing a Constituent Day the end of January for anyone interested in visiting me during the General Assembly and getting a tour of the Capitol. Please contact my home office, 703-437-9400 if you would like your name added to the list. More details will follow.

Warm regards,

Tom Rust
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Government debt and deficits are robbing your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren. http://www.usdebtclock.org/