Maintaining Present Employers and Attracting New Jobs Is Important
GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPORT | By Ben Cline
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When I travel to Richmond each January for the General Assembly session, one of my top priorities has been to protect the great quality of life that we enjoy here in our part of Virginia. It impacts my thinking on almost every vote I take and every issue I encounter. Whether it is attracting employers who provide good jobs and solid benefits, maintaining great schools and outstanding teachers, supporting law enforcement and keeping our roads and communities safe, or protecting our farmers and our natural resources, I consider each issue to be an integral part of our great quality of life.
But for many of us, the quality of life that we enjoy has been impacted by the downturn in the economy. While Virginia has been called the most “business-friendly” state and is weathering the recession better than other parts of the country, those facts are of little solace to someone who just lost their job at Mohawk in Waynesboro or Areva in Lynchburg.
In addition, families who are not facing job losses are still getting squeezed by the weak economy. Wages are stagnant and hours are being reduced, yet the prices of food, fuel, and health care are all rising. Families are cutting back on just about everything, and many are still finding it hard to make ends meet.
That’s why Virginia cannot simply rest on its laurels and rely on its pro-business policies of lower taxes and fewer regulations to turn the local economy around. We must work twice as hard to keep existing employers here while attracting new jobs to our area. As your Delegate, I have been working to make our part of Virginia more attractive to business development while also trying to bringing down the costs of food, energy, and health care for Virginia families.
Two ways I have been working to attract jobs are by improving our job training programs and by improving our regional transportation infrastructure. I have worked with our local officials and our community colleges to locate new satellite branches of CVCC and Dabney Lancaster in Amherst and Buena Vista. I also have worked to enact legislation to provide scholarships for community college students who want to continue their studies at four-year colleges. Securing a top-quality education for our students will ensure a highly-trained workforce for local employers, and it will help keep our young people from having to leave this area to find work.
To improve our infrastructure and attract jobs, I have worked to address congestion on I-81 by constructing third lanes for trucks from Lexington to Fairfield and at the Buffalo Creek crossing. I improved safety by putting more troopers on I-81 and by establishing a special VDOT task force on I-81 safety. I also have worked to reduce the truck traffic on I-81 by encouraging more intermodal freight rail transport along I-81 and Route 29. Keeping this vital economic link flowing safely and efficiently will help our part of Virginia attract employers and improve the quality of life for local residents.
And while I have been working to improve our local economy through job training and infrastructure improvements, I also have been working to address the rising costs of energy, food, and health care. By encouraging the removal of bans on offshore exploration for oil and natural gas, we can lower fuel costs and help family farmers keep food costs down. By removing mandates on health insurers, we have made health insurance in Virginia more accessible and more affordable. The solution to lower costs for Virginians, whether for energy, food, or health care, is by removing inefficient and outdated regulations on businesses, not by Richmond adding even more.
All of these improvements can help make our quality of life better here in Virginia, and as your Delegate, I will continue working for families and small businesses to make our part of Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family. I ask for your vote this November 3rd, and I look forward to seeing you around the area. | | | | | |
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