The Virginia League of Conservation Voters rated 140 General Assembly members’ votes on conservation-related issues this year, giving a perfect score to Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg.
Thirty-nine other members of the House of Delegates, all but two of them Democrats, also received 100 percent ratings from the league on bills it selected.
Del. Watkins Abbitt, I-Appomattox, was the next highest-rated legislator from the Lynchburg area, with a 63 percent score.
Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, scored near the bottom of the league’s scale with a 25 percent rating.
Legislative bills on the league’s scorecard rated delegates and state senators for their votes on such issues as land-use reforms, energy-related issues and performance standards for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Senators’ votes on a bill to study the safety of uranium mining also figured into the league’s scorecard. The measure died in a House committee.
Legislation that would have established bipartisan redistricting also was on the scorecard. This measure also failed in a House committee.
The league said lawmakers would become more responsive to conservation issues if their legislative districts were redrawn every 10 years by an administrative committee. Currently, the boundaries are decided by whichever party holds the majority in the General Assembly.
Other bills chosen by the league, which also hands out political endorsements during election campaigns, included:
A measure to eliminate proffers, the system local governments use to negotiate with developers to pay for roads and other infrastructure (carried over to 2009);
Regulation of natural gas rates to encourage energy conservation (approved).
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement