2009 Legislative Agenda Priorities

As Virginia policymakers convene for a challenging 2009 Legislative Session where difficult decisions will be made in an effort to address Virginia's declining revenues, Northern Virginia's technology community urges the Governor and members of the legislature to act to preserve Virginia's status as a global technology center and preferred location to start, expand and grow technology businesses.

Even as state governments wrestle with substantial revenue shortfalls and budget cuts, businesses will continue to seek locations to expand and relocate, congestion will grow even greater in Northern Virginia's technology corridor, more innovative research opportunities will present themselves, climate change will continue, and demand for a top-notch educational system will grow along with global competition for the workforce it produces. It is critical that 2009 budget actions preserve the gains Virginia has made in building a globally branded technology business climate that continues to earn the Commonwealth accolades as the best place for business, the state with the highest concentration of tech workers, the state with the largest number of fast-growing firms, and the second-best state in the nation for entrepreneurs starting businesses.

Virginia's policies and budget priorities must reflect the fact that Northern Virginia's technology community will be a substantial driver of Virginia's economic recovery and the Commonwealth's long-term economic growth. Virginia's technology future demands that long-term investment not yield to short-term savings. Virginia must aggressively deploy innovative solutions and leverage public-private partnerships, and sustain investments in transportation, workforce, technology-based economic development, entrepreneurship and the Center for Innovative Technology, higher education, and research.

Address Northern Virginia's Transportation Crisis

Addressing Northern Virginia's transportation crisis in a significant and meaningful way is critical to the growth of Northern Virginia's technology economy—and by extension to the long—term health of the state.

Enact a Northern Virginia transportation funding plan to provide a new, sustainable and dedicated annual revenue stream of $400 million to address transportation and mass transit funding needs for this region.
Provide for $50 million per year in dedicated Metro funding over the next ten years. The federal government requires Virginia, DC and Maryland each to provide these matching funds in order to receive $1.5 billion in federal funding for Metro.
Continue to advance the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project extension.
Implement policies, tax incentives and broadband infrastructure to expand the use of telework in both the private and public sector throughout the Commonwealth with a goal of 20 percent of all eligible positions taking advantage of telework.
Increase cohesion within the Northern Virginia Delegation to the General Assembly to enable our region to speak with a strong, unified, bipartisan voice on regional needs, particularly with regard to transportation.

Keep Virginia Competitive in a Global Economy

Virginia's technology industry operates within a highly competitive global economy. Policymakers must ensure that the entire Commonwealth remains competitive and is poised to benefit from today's global economy.

A strong Secretary of Technology, continued support for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) and public-private partnerships are critical to achieving the goal of being the best place to do business in the world. NVTC continues to support IT governance reforms that more strongly align authority, accountability and responsibility within state government.
Ensure the multi-state streamlined sales and use tax agreement governing taxation of e-ecommerce-based transactions provides for a small seller exemption, a single entity for collection and audits and adequate reimbursement for businesses prior to supporting its implementation in Virginia. In its current form, Northern Virginia's technology community has substantial concern about the efficacy and efficiency of this system, the additional tax collection burdens and audit responsibilities placed on small businesses and the expansion of tax collection responsibilities to include service-based companies in Virginia. NVTC also remains skeptical that any revenue benefits justify the additional burdens placed on technology business.
Provide $5 million in annual funding for CIT which, over the past 25 years, has been instrumental in ensuring that Virginia's education, research and workforce investments remain in the Commonwealth. CIT returns $14 to Virginia's economy for every $1 Virginia invests.
Provide tax incentives to make Virginia a preferred location for green technology companies and green jobs. Promote public-private collaboration to develop and employ green technologies; establish incentives to encourage faster commercialization of alternative sources of energy; support voluntary, market-oriented programs such as Energy Star to accelerate the adoption of energy efficient technologies; and support recycling programs for information technology products that have reached the end of their useful lives.
Oppose the adoption of protectionist legislation that would unilaterally impose blanket policies on state procurement officials in order to restrict their ability to procure goods and services from companies that utilize offshore labor. Such policies isolate Virginia in the global market place.
Ensure broadband access for every Virginia business and citizen. Support CIT's Commonwealth-wide mapping initiative launched by the Broadband Roundtable to allow state and local leaders to identify and focus on un-served areas, offer tax incentives to promote private-sector deployment of broadband in rural areas, and strengthen the Office of Telework and Broadband Assistance.

Preserve Funding for Virginia's Institutions of Higher Education and Do Not Impair The Flexibility of Individual Institutions In Dealing With Budget Cuts

Virginia must increase funding for its colleges and universities over the long term. Given this year's budget challenges, however, and the budget cuts already placed on our colleges and universities, it is critical that funding cuts to higher education are minimal and that policymakers not impair the ability of individual schools to deal with budget cuts.

George Mason University (GMU) and the Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), in particular, are primary anchors for Northern Virginia's technology community. Despite chronic underfunding from the Commonwealth of Virginia, these institutions have been tremendously successful in educating the technology workforce of today and tomorrow while accommodating a disproportionate share of the state's enrollment growth.

Minimize cuts to Virginia's institutions of higher education.
Do not constrain the ability of individual colleges and universities to deal with budget cuts. It is imperative that they maintain the flexibility to ensure they are able to continue to offer a world class education, expand capacity to accommodate student demand, recruit and retain faculty, and drive innovation
Provide Virginia students with access to all of Virginia's colleges and universities by increasing funding for need-based financial aid and by funding tuition assistance grants (TAG) at adequate levels. Increase support for the Virginia Community College Transfer Grant program to provide financial assistance to students who have completed an Associates Degree and are transferring to a four-year institution, and continue preferences for students in science, technology, math, engineering and other critical need disciplines.

Increase Research Funding and Commercial Technology Transfer at Virginia Universities

Increased research funding is critical to leveraging federal and private sector research investment. University research supports the recruitment and retention of world-class faculty and graduate students, the international credibility of Virginia's research institutions and an environment of entrepreneurship. Experience over the past few years has shown Virginia universities can leverage each research dollar invested by the state to produce an additional $4 in federal and private investment. Through strong and sustained research investments, Virginia has the opportunity to grow its capacity for innovation and to advance technology, to build knowledge capital, to create intellectual property with long term commercialization potential and to create new companies and new industries across the Commonwealth. Through a strong Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), Virginia has the ability to retain and leverage the knowledge capital we build within the Commonwealth.

Restore budget cuts to CIT's successful GAP Fund which has earned national recognition for its efforts in encouraging Virginia entrepreneurs and innovative technology start-up companies to locate and grow within the Commonwealth by investing in seed-stage firms and university spinoffs with a high potential for successful commercialization, rapid growth and downstream private equity financing.
Preserve the $30 million plus in directed research funds appropriated this fiscal year as the final installment in the 3-year $100 million plus university research package.
Narrow the scope of the Angel Investment Tax Credit by limiting eligibility to investments in small Virginia-based technology, biotechnology, life sciences, university spinoffs and alternative energy start-ups, to target industries with strong potential for statewide economic growth and job expansion.
Increase non-state research funding at Virginia universities through (a) expanded efforts to secure federal funding of basic research and (b) identify opportunities to provide research services (as opposed to transferring IP) to large corporations. Longer term, explore opportunities to keep companies better informed of the research being performed at Virginia universities and to improve the pace and amount of technology transferred between universities and industry.
Restructure the Commonwealth Technology Research Fund (CTRF) to provide for targeted state research investment on a competitive basis with an emphasis on collaborative research initiatives between universities and the private sector with high potential for intellectual property commercialization and job creation.
Update Virginia's sales and use tax exemption for research equipment to reflect current research practices and activities and to elevate Virginia's competitive research environment. While not as competitive as the R&D tax credits offered by many states, a more meaningful tax exemption for research will help attract more private research activity.

Provide More Highly Skilled Workers to Power Virginia's Technology Economy

The growth potential for Virginia's technology industry is limited by an insufficient number of qualified technology workers, and the education system is not graduating a sufficient number of people with degrees in math, science, engineering and technology-related fields.

Revamp the system for accrediting teachers to address the statewide shortage of math and science teachers and to ensure all teachers have sufficient proficiency in math, science and technology.
Incorporate industry-validated standards for knowledge regarding technology into the Virginia Standards of Learning and provide resources for all school systems to establish science- and technology-intensive centers of excellence.
Consolidate Virginia's workforce programs and training initiatives and ensure we have strong business community participation and oversight. Virginia continues to operate inefficiently with more than 20 workforce programs spending over $300 million, spread among nine state agencies. Local workforce boards must be smaller in number, better reflect the need of local communities and in a position to make policy decisions on workforce issues.
Grow Southwest Virginia's technology economy by expanding Virginia's "Return to Roots" program to encourage highly skilled workers to return to the region to live and work.
Better align high school graduation requirements with university admissions requirements to make math and science requirements more rigorous, as has been done in 12 other states.