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COMSTOCK FOR DELEGATE BLOG

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The 2010 Legislative Session Begins in Richmond

Here is my new contact information and a heads up about some upcoming events.

Office Information
My contact information here in Richmond is:

Delegate Barbara Comstock
PO Box 406
Richmond, VA 23218
Phone: 804-698-1034
Fax: 804-698-6734
Email: [email protected].gov
Richmond Office: General Assembly Building, Room 407 (right next to the State Capitol in Richmond)

Inaugural Activities
This weekend, our new Governor, Bob McDonnell will be inaugurated at a special joint session of the General Assembly on Saturday, Jan 16th. I look forward to seeing the many of you who will be down for the events over the weekend. I would also like to invite you to my swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, January 17th (invite below) if you are going to be in town.

You Are Invited To Attend The Swearing In Ceremony Of

Delegate Barbara Comstock
34th District of Virginia

Sunday, January 17th
1:30 PM


With Special Guest
The Honorable Vince Callahan
Former Delegate 34th District of Virginia

At The State Capitol
House of Delegates Chamber
Guided Tour & Reception to Follow Immediately


For questions or to RSVP, please contact Ian Gallagher in my office at 804-698-1034.

Town Hall Meeting
Also, I want you to know about an event back in the District where I will be participating in a Town Hall meeting with fellow Delegate Jim Scott and our State Senator Janet Howell on Saturday, January 23rd. We invite you to join us:

Town Hall Meeting
January 23, 2010
10am - Noon

Longfellow Middle School, 2000 Westmoreland Street, Falls Church, VA 22043

Budget Challenges
Of course the most difficult challenge we face is the impact of the ongoing recession on our state budget. I can assure that we are going to be focused on the priorities discussed over the past year as the first order of business - getting our economy back on track and restoring our prosperity by focusing on our jobs, our roads and our schools. Our state revenues continue to be in a downward spiral with the threats of additional unfunded mandates from Washington, such as the budget-busting health care bill which would overwhelm our state budget, while cutting Medicare and threatening seniors. Unfortunately, federal stimulus funds from last year did little to create jobs and we must now reckon with major structural imbalances that remain in the budget.

While Virginia's general fund tax revenue forecast reflects growth in Fiscal Year 2010, the rate of growth is still well below historical trend-lines, and annual general fund revenues are forecast to fall below the actual collections of what we had in 2007. Furthermore, we in Fairfax have been faced with additional challenges on our school budget. The outgoing Governor's budget takes the unprecedented action of freezing the current education funding formula which will result in an additional $50-60 million loss for Fairfax schools. This adds insult to injury when it comes to shortchanging Northern Virginia on our state education dollars. These are just some of the many issues that we will be tackling in the coming weeks.

We are going to work hard to craft a budget that will get us through these tough times and fund our core government services. I appreciate the expertise that so many of you bring to these issues and invite you to keep in touch. Thank you again for all your help. If I can ever be of assistance please don't hesitate to contact me.



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