If India is the new China — in the sense of great economic potential — than Virginia just raised its visibility in the country by hiring a professional marketer.

The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) has signed a short-term, $45,000 contract with England-based PL Shipping & Logistics Ltd. to promote the shipping of Indian cargo through the Hampton Roads port. PL Shipping has 12 offices covering India’s major ports and inland hubs. 

The idea is to bump up an already growing share of trade between India and Virginia.  Since 1994, the average annual growth in trade between the two countries has been 17 percent. In 2006, India ranked No. 6 in total container volume at Virginia’s port, shipping everything from tools to textiles and electronics to U. S. markets.

“If you look at a lot of the cargo forecasts and what the experts say, India is going to be a rival to China. It’s already been a strong player in this port and other ports as well, and we want to be able to capture more cargo and have a presence there,” says Joe Harris, VPA’s media relations manager. The authority will review the contract at year-end and, if all goes well, may renew it.

For more information, see our September cover story. 

A story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this weekend highlighted the dozens of bills that have been introduced in the General Assembly to combat illegal immigration.

Many of these bills are directed toward punishing businesses that have hired illegal workers. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in last week’s State of the Commonwealth speech that he doesn’t want the state to appear xenophobic as it tries to deal with issues related to illegal immigration.

Last year, many bills concerning illegal immigration passed the House of Delegates but failed in the Senate, which was then controlled by moderate Republicans. Democrats now control the Senate, but illegal immigration bills are likely to get some more attention this year. Localities across the state have been studying the effect of illegal immigrants in their communities. Many have passed resolutions asking local staff to study whether they can reduce services.

Following are just some of the bills that target employers that the Times-Dispatch listed this weekend. We will follow these closely in the blog.

HB90: Allows state regulatory boards to suspend or revoke the license, certificate or registration of a business if it has been convicted of knowingly hiring someone who is not eligible to work in the U.S.

HB 227: Requires applicants for a contractor’s license to submit a statement promising they will verify employee’s status and not hire an illegal immigrant knowingly.

HB 926: Allows regulatory boards to discipline businesses convicted of hiring undocumented workers.
five patrons; Makes conviction for violating the law by employing ineligible workers grounds for disciplinary action by a regulatory board.

HB928: Several measures, including requirement that public bodies and their contractors work with the Department of Homeland Security to participate in federal work authorization program. Requires state agencies offering services to verify the recipient’s immigration status.

HB 1047: $100 fine each day for a business that employs an undocumented worker.

HB 1249: Allows employee who is replaced by an ineligible worker grounds to take action against former employer.

HB 1298: A set of punishments and fines for businesses employing workers they cannot provide documents for showing their are eligible to work in the U.S.

HJ164: Directs the Virginia Commission on Immigration to study how many licensed contractors in the state hire ineligible employees and their effect on the work force and the economy.

SB90: Prohibits employers from hiring workers before their legal eligibility has been verified.

SB385: Requires applicants for local business licenses to certify they are not employing undocumented workers.

SB426: Same as HB.

Big Wall Street firms aren’t the only ones getting hammered by the widening credit crisis. McLean-based Capital One Financial Corp. took a hit yesterday, as the fallout from sub prime mortgages continues to spread.

The company’s stock sunk to a new 52-week low — $38.35 — following reports that full-year earnings for the credit card giant will not meet projections. Capital One expects earnings of $3.97 per share for 2007, rather than $5. The problem, it said, was higher loan losses and costs for legal reserves.

Expect to hear a lot more of the D-word, as in delinquent. In its company statement, Capital One said it plans to set aside $1.9 billion for bad loans in the fourth quarter, including $1.3 billion in uncollectible loan losses. In 2008, it expects charge-offs of $5.9 billion.

The company’s stock opened this morning at $40.42. By mid-day, it stood at $42.86, slightly below yesterday’s close of $42.92 which represented a drop of 43 cents from the previous day. The company’s 52-week high is $83.84, a figure that hasn’t been seen in months. 

Capital One also noted “continued deterioration” in about $700 million worth of home equity lines of credit originated by Greenpoint Mortgage. Capital One acquired Greenpoint in 2006 as part of a deal to buy New-York based North Fork Bancorp Inc. and closed the mortgage unit in August.

If numbers tell the tale, there’s no question more consumers are struggling to pay bills. One can help but worry: where’s all this going to end? 

Before last year’s General Assembly session, it was clear transportation would be the session’s hot-button issue.

This year that title may go to illegal immigration, but a close second could be fixing — or completely unraveling — the $1.1 billion transportation package lawmakers passed last year.

First: abusive driver fees. Gov. Tim Kaine, most Democrats and many Republicans support repealing the unpopular steep fees lawmakers passed last year for serious driving offenses.

This year, legislators have introduced a host of bills that repeal the fees, including some that would refund citizens who already paid the fees.

Then there’s Republican Del. David Albo of Fairfax, sponsor of the bill that created the fees, who wants to salvage them by making them applicable to out-of-state drivers as well.

How will lawmakers make up the $65 million those fees were supposed to bring in each year? Some Senate Democrats have already introduced raising the gas tax — a plan that can be presumed dead when it reaches the House of Delegates.

The new Democratic Senate majority said yesterday that one of its priorities will be increasing money for the transportation maintenance fund.

That fund is critical to the state’s transportation network — although far less sexy than any appeal for new transportation projects.

The fund currently has a $290 million shortfall. By law, transportation money must first go to maintaining current roads before money is used to build new ones. That means the maintenance shortfall robs the state’s construction project money.

The Democrats have not reached agreement on how to raise more transportation money, but the House of Delegates certainly has no appetite for new tax increases.

Then there’s the danger to the transportation authorities created in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. These were designed to raise money in the state’s most traffic-clogged regions.

Some lawmakers have introduced bills that would tweak what taxes and fees the authorities can use in the region. Kaine is saying he would support changes, as long as it didn’t reduce the potential amount of revenue that could be raised.

But the future of these fees may be in peril. The Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on the constitutionality of the authorities. Last year’s transportation package could quickly fall apart if the authorities were ripped of their taxing power, leaving the state’s economic engines in gridlock.

Transportation remains the No. 1 issue for Virginia businesses. Last year, the state provided a big boost to the aging network. Let’s hope 2008 isn’t the year it all falls apart.

The sun was just creeping over the horizon Thursday when a group of executives got down to business on the 21st floor of a Richmond office building.
The Executive Exchange, a business networking group, meets for breakfast every week at the Bull & Bear Club atop the James Center complex. At 7 a.m., the windows surrounding the dining room offered a dazzling view of rapids of the James River below. But the dozen men seated around the table were focused on referrals, not the view.
At 7:15 a.m. sharp, they passed their business cards and began a series of one-minute speeches describing their businesses. The group included representatives from an insurance agency, an advertising firm, a commercial real estate company, a financial consulting group and a CPA firm.
Later, one member of the group, the insurance agent, gave a longer talk about risk management and described the target customer he is seeking. The other members around the table took notes.
In networking groups like this, the members serve as eyes and ears for each other. They watch for opportunities where the needs of someone they know match the services of a club member. Sometimes they work together to offer a package of services to a single client.
In a time of instant, global communication, groups like the Executive Exchange demonstrate the continued value of face-to face encounters and the power of the personal touch. The Richmond group, in fact, bans the use of cell phones during meetings. The president was fined Thursday when his went off by accident.