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The Legislative Graveyard: A Review of Virginia\u27s 2022 Regular General Assembly Session
Get PDFIn 2019, Democrats won a majority in the House of Delegates and the Senate, and the Commonwealth was led by a Democratic Governor. The Democrats’ majority trifecta, which they had obtained for the first time since 1992, was once again lost on November 2, 2021, when Virginians voted to renew the Republican leadership in the Office of the Governor and in the House of Delegates. Under this once again bifurcated, yet unusually polarized, assembly, legislators on either side of the political aisle faced an uphill battle getting legislation passed, with the majority of bills ending in a stalemate. As a result, the 2022 General Assembly Session is better defined by what did not happen, as opposed to what did. This article briefly surveys the most prominent bills laid to rest in this year’s “legislative graveyard,” in ten key areas of law: education, environment, criminal justice, housing, transportation, voting, taxation, healthcare, firearms, and Virginia culture and history
The Friends of Boatwright Memorial Library Present Virginia Opera: Local Voices
Get PDFGuest performance by affiliates of the Virginia Oper
The Hero’s Journey as a Novel, Narrative, and Improvisational Group Intervention on Quality of Life for People with Parkinson’s Disease
Get PDFParkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the fastest-growing neurological diseases in the world. Pharmaceutical and surgical interventions continue to advance to better address motor symptoms. However, disability from non-motor symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and stress persist. Expressive therapies, including art, music, and dance are being explored and implemented more frequently to address this growing need. We developed this study to examine the feasibility of a novel program using online narrative therapy, with constructs from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, and improvisation for people with PD (PWPD). Participants from across the U.S. and U.K. met online via Zoom once a week for one hour over the course of 27 consecutive sessions. A PhD student with a professional background in filmmaking and improvisation developed the sessions and led the program. The primary aim was to assess feasibility, the threshold for which was set at 70% of participants attending a minimum of 75% of the classes. Sixteen of 21 participants (76%) completed the study, with all 16 attending at least 85% of the classes. All participants who completed the study stated they enjoyed the class and would like to continue in the program and see it offered to others with PD. The secondary aim was to explore the participants’ experience within the program using a phenomenological approach. Four major themes emerged: 1) There was a high level of interest in the intervention itself as it was deemed unique; 2) Participants struggled to see their own heroic qualities; 3) They reported high levels of connection within the group and 4) The emphasis on having PD faded, replaced by journeys of self-discovery beyond having PD
Opioid Litigation Panel
Get PDFOn February 17, 2023, the University of Richmond Law Review hosted a symposium entitled Overlooked America: Addressing Legal Issues in Rural America. A portion of the event focused on the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States, including the causes and effects of certain actions taken by players in the pharmaceutical industry. The Opioid Litigation Panel, transcribed below, brought together four of the most prominent leaders in the fight for justice in the opioid epidemic: Mr. Rick Mountcastle, Mr. Paul Farrell, Mr. Eric Eyre, and Professor Patrick McGinley. The University of Richmond Law Review was so honored to have these individuals speak at the symposium and is thrilled to publish their powerful discussion below
With a Wink and a Nod: How Politicians, Regulators, and Corrupt Coal Companies Exploited Appalachia
Get PDFEnvironmental regulators treated America’s leading coal companies like Wall Street’s mismanaged banks leading to the “Great Recession”—big coal companies that produced millions of tons of coal were simply too big to fail. With a wink and a nod, federal and state regulators ignored a core provision of federal law that was intended to prevent coal companies from continuing their past practices of plundering Appalachia’s mineral wealth while ravaging her environment.
This Article examines how the coal industry successfully evaded compliance with that law. The consequences of this evasion include mass bankruptcies, thousands of acres of mined land laying unclaimed, the pollution of rivers, streams, and groundwater, and the degradation of the coalfield environment. Taxpayers are left holding the bag. How and why did this happen?
To answer this question, this Article explores the role the coal industry has played for more than a century in shaping the economy, culture, and politics of Appalachia—as well as the poverty, environmental degradation, and hundreds of thousands of dead and injured coal miners left in its wake
Going the Extra Mile: Expanding the Promoting Affordable Housing Near Transit Act
Get PDFThe Promoting Affordable Housing Near Transit Act (“Act”), introduced in Congress in June 2021 and signed into law six months later, proposes a goal of balancing the disproportionately-high costs of housing and transportation felt by lower-income families by combining these resources in one project: transit-oriented housing developments. Middle-income and wealthy suburbanites have ready access to cities by car, but lower-income urbanites lack access to the suburbs without a private vehicle. While the goal of the Act recognizes this disparate outcome, the Act’s failure to include expansion of mass transit into the suburbs will continue to restrict low-income minorities to urban centers, failing to do more than place a band-aid on a decades-long issue. As jobs increasingly move to the suburbs, placing affordable housing in those areas and creating a transit option for urban dwellers offers a more equitable choice in housing for low-income households. The Act should be amended to require expansion of mass transportation into the suburbs, creating an interconnected system between cities, the suburbs, and suburban neighborhoods. The goal of this Comment is to take the techniques employed in two of the nation’s best transit cities and combine them with the affordability focus of the Act, leading to positive economic development that includes low-income households.
The issue of limited affordable housing is multidimensional, requiring a correspondingly complex solution for this historic problem. Thus, the focus of this Comment touches on just one problematic environment and one potential solution. This Comment uses major metropolitan cities and their surrounding suburbs as the basis of analysis, not to the exclusion of other localities but in recognition of the unsuitability of a one-size-fits-all solution.
It is also important to note here that while the focus of the divide in this Comment is on socioeconomic status and not race, the two are inextricably linked. The history of racial segregation in the United States contributes to the disparity between the racial makeup of the country and of its socioeconomic classes. As you will see, many of the facially socioeconomic decisions made in the last century act as a mask for racially motivated animus. While the examples and solutions provided in this Comment do not focus on the racial disparity in these developments, it must be understood that these implications always lurk beneath the surface. Part I of this Comment will give a brief overview of the history of residential segregation in the United States and how transportation policies contributed to the concentration of poverty in one area, namely urban city centers. This historical overview focuses on mid-twentieth century America, specifically during the post-World War II era where housing subsidies became more abundant and, increasingly, a covert form of discrimination. This Part concludes by discussing why public transportation has failed to make its way to the suburbs and why its expansion into these areas is necessary for the Act’s success.
Part II expounds upon the particulars of the Act and its proposed implementation in the current transportation and housing framework. Finally, Part III offers examples of successful transit-oriented development projects and suggestions of how expansion into the suburbs and multimodal transportation options can cement the Act’s success. This Part proposes amending the Act to mandate that federal transit projects affected by the Act include transportation expansion into the suburbs. While the Act in its current form does not exclude the suburbs from transit development, neither does it set forth an objective to promote it. Because most mass transit exists in major metropolitan areas, the Act should demand inclusion of the suburbs in these new developments to help bridge the divide between urban and suburban communities. Lastly, this Part addresses critiques of current approaches to the housing shortage, such as mixed-income communities, and articulates why the proposals in. this Comment can mitigate some of these concerns
CFTC & SEC: The Wild West of Cryptocurrency Regulation
Get PDFOver the past few years, a turf war has been brewing between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) over which agency should regulate cryptocurrencies. Both agencies have pursued numerous enforcement actions over the cryptocurrencies they believe to be within their jurisdiction. This turf war has many moving components, but the focus always comes back to one question: which cryptocurrencies are commodities, and which cryptocurrencies are securities? The distinction is important because the CFTC has statutory authority to regulate commodities, whereas the SEC has statutory authority to regulate securities. This Comment rejects the pursuit of defining cryptocurrency and instead proposes a regulatory framework where the two agencies regulate jointly and where the firms can self-designate and register with either the CFTC or SEC