Welcome to my online constituent office. We hope you will find this website to be a useful one-stop portal for any needs you might have from the Virginia state government. We have included information to help you better understand how our government works.
You can also keep up with the policy-making process in the General Assembly during the weeks that I am working in Richmond by reading my blogs and Twitter updates.
As your State Delegate, I’m here to serve you so please contact me with any questions or services you need. I am particularly interested in hearing about ways to make our laws work better for all of us so please do not hesitate to send me policy ideas that I may be able to propose in Richmond. I am honored to represent you and I look forward to meeting you in person.
Thank you,
- DelegateKeam: Presented another Richmond report to civic group: Sully District Council. 35th Dist has only 1 precinct in Sully - called Vale - out of 18.
- DelegateKeam: Witnessing the investiture of new Fairfax Couny Circuit Court Judge Brett Kassabian whom we voted in this session. Congrats, Your Honor!
- DelegateKeam: At NoVA Asian American community town hall hosted by Virginia Asian American Advisory Board. I served on this Governor's board in 2001-09.
- DelegateKeam: Attending "Unlock Gridlock" forum in Tysons hosted by www.TeleworkVA.org and www.TeleworkExchange.com to find solutions for NoVA traffic.
- DelegateKeam: Providing another Richmond report to constituents; this time Providence District Council in Dunn Loring. Most active civic leaders I know.
Posts Tagged ‘bipartisan’
Gov. McDonnell Signs Keam-Poindexter Green Jobs Bill into Law
Today, Governor McDonnell signed into law House Bill 803, which provides tax credits for Virginia employers who create and retain new jobs that promote renewable and alternative energy. This “Green Jobs” bill is a bipartisan effort of Delegate Mark Keam (D-Fairfax), Delegate Charles Poindexter (R-Franklin), Senator Emmett Hanger (R-24), and many other legislators.
In January, Delegate Keam joined Gov. McDonnell at a press conference in Richmond to announce the inclusion of HB 803 as part of the Governor’s Jobs Agenda. Today, Delegate Keam joined Gov. McDonnell once again, at the bill signing ceremony on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, where he spoke about the need for everyone to work together to make Virginia the Energy Capitol of the nation.
The Governor’s press release is copied below, and is found online at: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/news/viewRelease.cfm?id=105
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For Immediate Release: April 02, 2010
Contact: Stacey Johnson, Press Secretary, (804) 786-2211
Governor McDonnell Signs Green Energy Legislation at Old Dominion University
– Another Step towards Making Virginia “The Energy Capital of the East Coast” –
–Legislation Includes Creation of $500 Green Jobs Tax Credit–
NORFOLK- Governor Bob McDonnell visited the campus of Old Dominion University today to sign into law a number of green energy bills passed by the General Assembly this session. Among the measures receiving the Governor’s signature was his legislation to provide a $500 tax credit for each green job created in the Commonwealth; a measure establishing the Universities Clean Energy Development and Economic Stimulus Foundation; the creation of the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority; and legislation rewarding investor-owned electric utilities for using wind energy. The Governor also signed legislation to authorize investor-owned natural gas utilities to petition the State Corporation Commission to implement a separate rider that will allow for recovery of certain costs associated with eligible infrastructure replacement projects; to add improvement of infrastructure such as refueling stations to the Alternative Fuels Revolving Fund; and to give localities the authority to, in order to secure loans for the initial acquisition and installation of clean energy improvements, place liens equal in value to the loan against any property where such clean energy systems are being installed.
Delegate Keam joins Gov. McDonnell at bill signing
Today, Governor McDonnell visited Fairfax County to sign several bills into law that will promote more tech jobs in Northern Virginia. Delegate Keam participated in the bill signing ceremony, hosted by the Center for Innovative Technology and Northern Virginia Technology Council, in their tech headquarters building in Herndon.
As a member of the House Finance Committee, Delegate Keam cosponsored and helped move House Bill 523 through to passage. This bill would grant income tax deduction on long-term capital gains related to qualified investment in a technology, bio-technology, or science start-up business, which will benefit Fairfax County.
Delegate Keam also cosponsored House Bill 677, which establishes a “Specialized Biotechnology Research Performance Grant Program” for nonprofit entities engaged in research, development, and production related to molecular diagnostics and drug development that commits in a memorandum of understanding and fulfills its obligation to (i) make a new capital investment of at least $200 million, (ii) create at least 415 new full-time jobs, and (iii) meet other criteria.
Governor McDonnell’s press release is: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/news/viewRelease.cfm?id=96
Washington Post wrote this about today’s event:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/post_663.html?wprss=virginiapolitics
McDonnell signs bills in NoVa to create jobs
By Anita Kumar
March 30, 2010; 5:44 PM ET
Republican and Democratic legislators joined Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) this afternoon in Northern Virginia as he signed a package of bills designed to create jobs and spur economic development.
The bills signed today will provide tax deductions on capital gains derived from investments in technology, energy, bio-tech and science-based companies; grant temporary business licenses to individuals who have a license or certification from another state; broaden the uses of the Governor’s Opportunity Fund; designate the head of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership as chief executive; and establish a biotech research performance grant program.
“The states that help lead this country out of this economic downturn will be those that move aggressively to promote job creation and make it easier for entrepreneurs and business owners to be successful,” McDonnell said at a signing ceremony at the Center for Innovative Technology and Northern Virginia Technology Council in Herndon. “That is what we are doing in Virginia.”
A slew of legislators from Northern Virginia joined McDonnell, including Sens. Mark Herring (D-Loudoun) and Janet Howell (D-Fairfax); Republican Dels. Dave Albo (Fairfax), Tom Rust (Fairfax), Tim Hugo (Fairfax), Barbara Comstock (Fairfax), Rich Anderson (Prince William), Joe May (Loudoun) and Jackson Miller (Manassas); and Democratic Dels. Mark Keam (Fairfax) and Mark Sickles (Fairfax). Several Northern Virginia technology and businesses also were in attendance.
Delegate Keam quoted in Richmond Times Dispatch
Delegate Keam talks about House Bill 778, the bill he and Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67th District) tried to push through the General Assembly this year to require all votes be published online under the Member’s name. The House passed the bill overwhelmingly but the Senate killed it in committee.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/SLAW15_20100314-220004/330410/
FOI council helps public with open government act
By Michael Martz
Published: March 15, 2010
It won’t get any easier this year for the public to scrutinize the voting records of General Assembly members, but that’s not because Del. Mark L. Keam, D-Fairfax, and 19 other new legislators didn’t try.
Keam was part of the “Freshman Initiative,” an effort by first-year leg-islators to make the assembly’s Web site easier to use to track votes from subcommittees to the chamber floor. The proposal was carried over a year by a Senate committee, but the new legislators say they are laying down a bipartisan marker to help the public hold elected officials accountable.
“We made a pact that on anything involving transparency, government efficiency or accountability, we will vote together,” he told Maria J.K. Everett during a reception Thursday to kick off Sunshine Week at the General Assembly.
Keam was preaching to the choir. Everett is executive director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, a 10-year-old panel that helps people understand, apply and obey state laws that make government records and actions open to the people.
LeMunyon-Keam bill killed by Senate Rules Committee
Today was a sad day for open government and transparency. The Senate Rules Committee killed House Bill 778, a bipartisan bill that would require the General Assembly to revise its website so that every recorded Committee and Floor vote can be accessed by a member’s name.
This is a bill that I wrote about in a previous entry on this website. Currently, information about how we vote in Richmond can be found online only if a member of the public knows the bill number or some other information about that legislation, and then goes to the website to search by that piece of information. HB 778, which was introduced by Delegate Jim LeMunyon, would make this process easier for the public by having our votes listed by our names. We believe this is a logical way that constituents might want to know how their elected officials vote.
Keam-LeMunyon Letter to Editor in Washington Post
The Washington Post today published a letter from Delegates Keam and LeMunyon, who are leading the bipartsian effort to bring more transparency and accountability to Richmond by requiring all votes to be searched online by members’ names. Details about HB 778 are found at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HB778
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/02/let_virginians_see_how_their_l.html
Posted at 7:05 PM ET, 02/22/2010
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Let Virginians see how their legislators are voting
By Jim LeMunyon and Mark Keam
Richmond
In recent years, Internet technology has provided greater government transparency and accessibility. Virginia maintains an excellent Web site that enables the public to track legislation, follow committee and floor schedules and view video of proceedings. The history of every bill introduced in Virginia since 1994, including recorded votes, also can be easily retrieved.
But one feature is lacking. While recorded votes can be retrieved by bill number, they cannot be compiled using a member’s name. To assemble a member’s voting record, a user would have to know all of the bills that received votes (many die in committee) and type in each number, one by one, to view the “yeas” and “nays.”
Such an exercise would take days, if not weeks. The public deserves an easier way. That is why we introduced House Bill 778 — to require voting records to be organized by member name as well as bill number. On Feb. 16, the House bill passed 86 to 13. No member spoke against the bill on the floor, although some noted privately that this tool might help candidates challenging incumbents by making it easier to retrieve incumbents’ voting records. That may be so, but this bill would also help citizens hold their leaders accountable.
H.B. 778 is pending before the Senate Rules Committee. A former member of the Virginia House, Thomas Jefferson, once remarked, “If the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” Virginia’s delegates have affirmed their confidence in Mr. Jefferson’s words. Now it’s up to the Senate.
The writers are, respectively, first-term Republican and Democratic members of the Virginia House of Delegates from Fairfax County.
Keam-Poindexter-McDonnell-McAuliffe and Green Jobs
Today’s article in Washington Post refers to possible new jobs that could be created in Virginia under the “green jobs” bill that Delegate Keam is working on with other Republican legislators. Delegate Keam’s bill, HB 1132, became part of Gov. McDonnell’s jobs legislative agenda, along with Delegate Charles Poindexter’s bill, HB 803.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/02/post_579.html
McAuliffe and McDonnell could partner on the purchase of paper mill
On the day that Gov. Bob McDonnell makes his first trip to International Paper’s Franklin mill, we learn that one of his former political rivals is making a bid to buy the soon-to-be closed factory and convert it to a wood-fired power plant.
Terry McAuliffe — the businessman and Democratic National Committee chairman turned failed 2009 gubernatorial candidate — and other investors want to buy the plant, which is scheduled to close this spring, resulting in 1,100 layoffs. They want to turn it into a environmentally friendly biomass energy plant.
Sources in the governor’s office say McAuliffe and his partners would be eligible for tax credits, available in the new McDonnell administration, that would allow a $500 income tax credit for the creation of “green” jobs and a credit for up to 350 new green jobs if the jobs are in an enterprise zone.
Delegate Keam’s article in Fairfax County Times
This article, authored by Delegate Keam, was published in the February 2 edition of Fairfax County Times:
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/cms/story.php?id=1000
Tuesday February 2, 2010
Mark L. Keam: Bipartisan effort to create new green jobs for Northern Virginia
On Jan. 26, I joined Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) at the State Capitol to announce a “Jobs and Opportunity Agenda,” a legislative package designed to spur job creation, promote economic development and create more opportunities for Virginians.
McDonnell agreed to include one of my legislative priorities in this General Assembly session as part of his economic agenda. My bill, HB 1132, as incorporated into the larger plan, would provide an income tax credit of $500 for each renewable energy job that an employer creates in Virginia. It would allow businesses to create up to 350 new “green” jobs that could qualify for this financial incentive.
With continuing budget shortfalls in our state and local governments and an uncertain economic outlook, I believe it is critical for our leaders in both the private and public sectors to focus on growing the economy and creating new jobs as the way to turn Virginia’s economy around.
I also believe we should use this recession as an opportunity to launch new green energy enterprises by designing policies that foster innovation, research, manufacturing and sales of services and products that develop alternative and renewable energy sources while also protecting the environment and promoting energy conservation. Clearly, Northern Virginia is an ideal location for attracting these exciting jobs of the future. We have world-class human capital, research and development facilities, transportation infrastructure, educational and governmental institutions, and a robust business base that is no stranger to innovation and cutting-edge technology.
Northern Virginia can and should be the green jobs capital of the nation.
As I stood next to the governor at the press conference on Jan. 26, I realized that although he and I had both been in our new jobs for less than two weeks, we had already begun to develop a close working relationship — across party lines — in an earnest effort to meet the needs of Virginians.
That is why, when McDonnell introduced me to speak, I said that job creation should not be a partisan issue. I joked, “There shouldn’t be red jobs and there shouldn’t be blue jobs, but we should have green jobs!” I hope that the rest of the General Assembly agrees.
Delegate Mark L. Keam represents the 35th District in the Virginia House of Delegates, which includes the Town of Vienna and portions of Tysons, Dunn Loring, Oakton and Fairfax.
Northern Virginia delegation sends letter to Gov. McDonnell
In an ongoing effort to seek fairness in funding for Northern Virginia schools by “unfreezing” the LCI formula, Delegate Keam signed on to this group letter sent to Gov. McDonnell by bipartisan Delegates and Senators who represent Northern Virginia.
Delegate Keam has also joined Republican Delegates Dave Albo (amendment #132-19h) and Scott Limgamfelter (#132-16h) in introducing budget amendments to use the LCI index for 2011, instead of the previous year’s formular as proposed in the current budget. This change would provide Northern Virginia with the $140 million that is rightfully due to the region’s schools.
Transparency, Accountability, Efficiency
Delegate Keam is proud to be the Chief Co-Patron of House Resolution 2, a strong bipartisan measure introduced by Republican Delegate Jim LeMunuyon from the neighboring 67th District, which would require the Clerk of the House of Delegates to make all Committee and Floor votes easily accessible online if a constituent searches under a Delegate’s name.
Currently, the information about who voted which way on any legislation can be found only if a constituent happens to know the bill number or some other obscure information about legislation. The LeMunyon-Keam effort would make it easy for anyone to go online and find this information by looking up their state representative’s name — which is the most obvious piece of information most constituents would have!
Delegate Keam believes that transparency and accountability are the hallmarks of democracy and also that our government needs to be efficient and effective in dealing with its citizens. House Resolution 2 would accomplish all these goals — at least at the House of Delegates.
To keep track of the status of this legislation, check back at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HR2