Latest Ideas

Governor Kaine,

Please consider offering early retirement options to State employees who are perhaps 18 months out from being eligible for retirement under current State laws.  Many municipals have elected this option to realize significant savings.

Use only one license tag on vehicles.

If you need to save $10 million in state salaries, don't lay off (or not hire) 150 employees.  Instead, reduce salaries of all state employess, but not by an across-the-board percent, which is regressive like the sales tax and hurts the lowest income earner the most.

Instead, use a graduated percentage reduction like the federal and state income taxes.  For example, reduce salaries of employees earning over 150,000 by 5%, salaries 75,000 up to 149,999 by 3%, and salaries below 75,000 by 2%.  Thus, everybody pays a share in the savings.

Do not give state vehicles to college administrators, state administrators or others. They do not need them.

Use state vehicles only for job-related special needs.

Below is a projected idea to save Virginia State Government dollars as well as state jobs:

The idea is to creat a Governor's Grants Office to provide technical assistance to state agencies, to find, win, and manage federal grants and foundation propsals successfully. The Governor's Grants Office activies/goals are proposed to include:

I don't play the VA lottery, every penny counts. To stimulate the economy why don't we have more winners in  the lottery? Why can't we have a system that pays everyone who plays? One number you get this much, two numbers this much and so on. Why wait for the lottery to get to $160,000,000.00 to have one person or even 10 people win and still have a struggling economy, I don't get it I'm sure if everyone got a piece of the winnings, more people would play, I know I would.  Thanks Darren C Wilson

Raising the Gasoline Tax, especially when we saw $4 gas this summer and the economy is bad, is admittedly a difficult sell to the populus.  But this is not because it doesn't make sense--it is because our politicians lack the fortitude to educate the general public on the necessity of this and to portray to the public that the funds can be trusted to be collected and used by the government efficiently.  However, raising the gas tax is the only straightforward method to raise the dollars needed for infrastructure projects--the same projects that the people who drive the most (and t

With the possibility of "economic stimulus" funding from the federal government to states for infrastructure, use that opportunity to not only improve our roads, bridges, etc. but invest in alternative energy to heat/cool government institutions. This will save ongoing costs for the state, create more "green jobs", improve the environment, and set a good example for the rest of the country and our citizens.