Dear Friends,
It seems like it was just yesterday when I stood before a small crowd of supporters and announced my candidacy for the 52nd District House of Delegates seat. I met with thousands of you, the 52nd District constituents, wherever I could find you.
Sometimes it was in your homes, at special events, on the streets and even in your cars. I met with groups of you in various places from senior citizen centers to restaurants and town hall meetings. I listened intently as you shared your concerns and thoughts.
During those meetings, I discussed my ideas and proposed my plan to make a difference for the people of the 52nd district. I promised to ensure Prince William County Schools would receive its fair share of state funding for education; shared that I was committed to providing each child with a quality education; and would seek to ensure continued funding for annual teacher salary increases and the cost of compete allocation.
Knowing many of you have concerns with the recent budget cuts, it has always been my hope that these cuts would be held to a minimum. Today I am pleased to report, although far from an ideal budget for education, Prince William County will receive its Local Composite Index funding. These funds will help offset our locality contributions. Additionally, we have restored most of the “cost to compete funds” so that our teachers will be paid at a livable wage. As a result, Prince William County Schools avoided $32 million dollars in cuts.
Another important platform issue was initiating a process to bring Metrorail to Prince William County. House Bill 1313 was introduced because Prince William County residents experience some of the longest commuting times in the country, and expanding metro into our community will relieve congestion. HB1313 provides for the creation of the Prince William County Metro district and serves as a model for financing an extension of the Metro rail service from Fairfax County to Prince William County. On February 12, 2010, Chairman Joe May of the House Transportation Committee recommended HB1313 to Governor McDonnell’s Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring. As HB1313 moves to the Governor’s Commission, I look forward to bringing more stakeholders together in an effort to extend Metro to Prince William County. I believe we are off to a good start.
Another bill I introduced was House Bill 299 – Uniform Statewide Building Code. This bill increases the civil penalty for the violation of the statewide building code and allows civil penalties to conform to zoning ordinances. HB299 is incorporated into House Bill 687, which was introduced by Delegate Jackson Miller with myself as Chief Co-Patron, passed both the House and the Senate unanimously.
There is much work to be done and I look forward to working with you to help make the 52nd District and Prince William County as nice place to call home.
With nearly 3000 bills introduced it is impossible to address each in this newsletter. To learn more about the bills introduced, please visit our legislation page – delegatetorian.com/legislation/
Sincerely,
Delegate Luke E. Torian
