It’s not just the business lobby questioning the practicality of the General Assembly’s proposed “homestead exemption” act.

A senior economist at U.Va.’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service has said the provision could cash-strap localities and fails to help renters, who often represent the state’s low income residents.

In his study, professor John Knapp outlines problems with the proposed constitutional amendment.

Knapp points out that when Gov. Tim Kaine first proposed the exemption during his 2005 gubernatorial campaign, assessments were skyrocketing. Now, cash-strapped localities might be unlikely to lower the tax rate to provide real relief to homeowners.

He also questions whether local governments would ask the General Assembly for another taxation avenue, such as a local income tax. Knapp also highlights how the tax could harm the state’s “tax friendliness” system as the local tax burden shifted to industrial and commercial properties.

With federal funding for the 23-mile Metrorail extension in danger, is the project essentially dead?

The Washington Post reported today that Gov. Tim Kaine said burdensome toll increases on the Dulles Toll Road might be needed to make up for the funding shortfall if the Federal Transit Administration doesn’t provide its share of the project. Kaine says he would be unlikely to support such a toll increase.

Federal transportation officials told Virginia leaders last week that is unlikely to agree to the $900 million federal share of the $5 billion project.

The state still has some time to revise the project.  But if federal funding is in doubt, rail to Dulles may never become more than a pipe dream.

Two days before a scheduled news conference, business folk in Roanoke are already talking about a development for one of the area’s oldest and largest employers.  On Wednesday TMEIC GE Drive Automation Systems will announce details about a move from Salem to the former home of Atlantic Mutual Cos. in Roanoke County.

A move a few miles down the road may not sound like a big deal. Yet, it’s good news for Southwest Virginia. A major employer is staying in the area, but plans to move into larger space so it can increase its work force of about 300. TMEIC, a joint venture between Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric and GE, makes software that runs motors. Its industrial drive systems are used by a number of industries, including mining, marine, and utilities. 
Stay tuned Wednesday for more details.

Virginia delegates seem to be working harder for their political futures than they are for the future of Virginians.

The partisan explosion in the House of Delegates yesterday was just the latest episode of the chamber’s partisan procedural partisan bickering this session. Much of the fighting has been about avoiding or forcing potentially poisonous political votes. Thus, delegates are already thinking about saving their own jobs when they face re-election in two years.

Virginia’s politicians should keep this in mind: Virginians care more issues such as education, taxes and health care than they do about their current delegates keeping their jobs.

Virginia residents have a new, free source for health care information. Today marks the public launch of the Virginia Health Information Project at http://www.vahealth.info. Two years in the making, the Web site is designed to be a one-stop source for reliable, unbiased information.

“More people are turning to the Web for health information but may get overwhelmed if they google something,” says Jeanna Beker, director of The Soho Center, a nonprofit based in Madison County that sponsors the site. “We’ve tried to consider the needs of the broad public to make it easy for people of all ages to get good information.”

So what can you find at the site? A little bit of everything.  Daily updates on health news. A health library. Parents can learn about childhood immunizations while seniors can check out prescription drug plans. The site also provides links and information on 14,000 health-related hotlines, many in English and Spanish.

The site’s initial funding of $51,000 came from the state attorney general’s office as part of a nationwide antitrust suit against distributors of the George Foreman grill.  Salton Inc. agreed to pay $8 million to settle charges of pressuring stores into charging artificially high prices for the grill and to removing competitors’ grills from the shelves. The settlement directed states to use their share of the money to help charities or government agencies improve health care and nutrition.