The Budget Bill before the Virginia legislature contains
drastic cuts for VCE including the closure of many offices and combining
others. Take Action now!
Just to update everyone. House Bill 30 did pass as
amended by the House Appropriations Committee. It is my understanding that
this will now be discussed in the Senate. Here is a link to the Senate
Finance Committee:
http://sfc.virginia.gov/members.shtml. The Senate Finance Subcommittee
on Economic Development & Natural Resources can be viewed here:
http://sfc.virginia.gov/economicdevelopment.shtml. You can find the
summary of committee budget amendments from 2/24/2010 here:
http://sfc.virginia.gov/pdf/committee_meeting_presentations/2010/022410%20Consolidated%20Copy%20of%20%20Proposed%20Budget%20Amendments.pdf.
According to their website, committee meetings are held
“on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m., Senate Room B; Thursdays
at 4:00 p.m., at call of Chairman.” I do not know when the senate will
be voting on their proposed budget and amendments. To date, there haven’t
been any amendments in the senate version of the budget of the nature we
saw in HB 30 as it relates to Virginia Cooperative Extension. I’m quite
certain we will be hearing from Dr. Rudd and Dr. Grant very soon with
additional pertinent information.
Please feel free to share this information as
appropriate. Also, keep in mind this is about our entire Extension family
and not just one specific program area. We will all be impacted by
whatever happens in the final budget. We are all on the same team working
toward the same goal and for the same purpose.
Posted 02-23-2010-9:PM
Please share this with all of your local VCE MG
volunteers. Here is an excerpt from the full report from the Agribusiness
Council:
Posted )2-25-2010-5:15 PM
Virginia Cooperative Extension & Agriculture Research Stations
Introduced Budget: Reduction of $1.1 million in FY1; reduction of $4.5
million in FY2
House Budget: Mandates a restructuring of VCE: Closes offices in
Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Prince
William, City of Richmond; Consolidates 13 offices with the following
moving to a nearby county: Rockbridge, Amherst, York, Page, Warren,
Powhatan, Campbell, Hanover, Fluvanna, Greene, Rappahannock, Chesapeake,
Spotsylvania; and Eliminates Family & Consumer Services, Community
Vitality, and lawn/garden programs statewide leaving an emphasis on
agriculture programs outside the urban corridor. Savings of $2.5 million in
FY2
Senate Budget: No change from introduced budget
Take Action
A letter from VMGA
President Betty Villers
The proposed state House Budget includes
closing 8 VCE offices and consolidating 13 offices. They will
be eliminating the lawn/garden programs which master gardeners have placed
great emphasis on to provide examples and advice in sustainable landscape
practices to improve water quality and land use. Our programs save our
cities and counties thousands of dollars and associated man-hours.
It is up to each locality to decide how to
contact your legislators. Let them know what your unit does for the
citizens in your locality , the programs that you provide, how many
volunteer hours you contribute and the importance of the volunteer work
that you do.
Dave's report to the VMGA : For
2009, we reported more than 334,000 volunteer hours statewide (up from
269,000 hours in 2008) and more than 577,000 contacts (up from 547,000 in
2008). The economic value of that volunteer service exceeds $6.7 million
dollars.
This has come as a shock to Dave as well. I
will let you know if I hear of anything else and if you have any
suggestions, please let me know.
By now everyone has heard about the proposed budget amendment before the
House Appropriations Committee that will effect the VCE
programs. Tomorrow the House will vote on the proposed budget including
the amendment targeting the closure of several VCE offices,
consolidating others, and eliminating any Extension support of home lawn
and garden programs. Family and Consumer Sciences and Community
Viability are also being targeted for elimination.
As President of the VMGA I am asking you to contact your state
delegates to express your concern over the proposed budget amendment and
how it will affect our Virginia Cooperative Extension. Attached is the
list with names and contact information of members of the House
Appropriations Committee, the key individuals, the ones who need to be
contacted TODAY. Included is a sample letter.
When you contact your delegate, you need to do so
as a taxpaying citizen, not as a VCE MG volunteer. However, in your
letter or conversations, you should speak from the heart and talk about
how Extension has impacted you personally, your family, and
your community at large. I would encourage folks to support Extension
broadly and not simply focus on the MG program. You can use
your experiences as an MG to support your argument, especially when
you talk about specific impacts Extension has in your community. It
would probably be good to have specific examples of those impacts:
school and community programs, working with nursing homes, working in
detention homes, anything that would resonate with the delegate and
communicate the depth and breadth of Extension's presence and impact in
your own district.
This is absolutely critical to the existence of VCE and the MG program
specifically.
Betty Villers,
VMGA President
Call from the list below and use the
sample letter for ideas of what
to say when you call your representative.
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