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Senator Jill Vogel (R-27, Winchester) is in her first term in the Virginia Senate. She is a rising star in the Republican Party of Virgina, let alone in the GOP caucus, and already has led on a number of issues, becoming an effective voice for conservatism in the very liberal Senate. She sits on the General Laws and Technology, Privileges and Elections, and Rehabilitation and Social Services Committees. This year, she was one of three patrons of Senate legislation that protects Virginians from the increasingly long arm and outright girth of the federal government over states and individuals in the area of health care. Her bill, SB 417, with the others, shocked liberals across the state by passing the Democrat controlled Senate and now is on the way to Governor Bob McDonnell’s desk for his signature, which will make Virginia the first state to protect itself from ObamaCare.

We originally scheduled this interview for one part, but Senator Vogel gave such informative replies, we decided to break it up. So, here, in part one, we ask her about her Health Care Freedom legislation. In part two, we’ll cover the state budget and spending, the economic benefit of eliminating corporate taxes, and de-funding Planned Parenthood.

FamilyFoundationBlog: Senator Vogel, thank you very much for spending time with us and answering these questions. They cover a broad range of topics of interest to our readers. As we have just passed “Crossover,” we very much look forward to your answers and insights as to what is happening in the General Assembly. Are you ready for some questions?

Senator Jill Vogel: I am ready and I am happy to have an opportunity to be with you. Also, before we begin I should tell you how grateful I am for all that The Family Foundation does to provide support and encouragement on the bills that I have carried. It is a huge help.

With crossover behind us, this is a perfect opportunity to take stock of where we are and for me to answer some questions about progress in the Senate this year. It has been an intense session, but with the help of the newly elected Governor we have made some significant headway on issues affecting jobs and the economy as well as a long list of other issues that are priorities for us.

FamilyFoundationBlog: Thank you for those kind words. That’s very high praise. Now, question one: You are one of the leaders in Health Care Freedom legislation to protect Virginians from the federal government’s reach into our personal health care decisions. Why did you take on this issue?

Senator Vogel: I took this on because it is time that our state legislature acted on this subject — both to protect our citizens and to reinforce that what the federal government is currently attempting to do with health care is not only bad public policy, but it is unconstitutional.

My bill is simple. It makes it illegal to impose insurance mandates on the citizens of the Commonwealth and forecloses the kinds of mandates that government run health care would dictate. Frankly, never in the history of this country has the federal government attempted such a power grab and I have an obligation to the citizens that I represent to prevent Congress from usurping the authority for decisions that are clearly left to individuals and the states under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Such a scheme by the federal government will never survive a Constitutional challenge and Virginia’s legislation sets us up for that challenge. The United States Supreme Court has never expanded the 10th Amendment or the Commerce Clause or any other category to reach the regulation of the purchase of a private product. We can incentivize certain behavior, we can tie certain requirements to certain funding or other contingencies, but a flat out mandate of this nature is a clear violation of the Constitution.

Other state legislatures around the nation have taken up the charge as well and, at this count, I think more than 38 states are considering similar measures. The point is that states are the breeding ground of innovation and competition for new ideas and solutions about health care should be left to the states. I am proud to say that yesterday marked the passage of the legislation in both the House and Senate of Virginia, bringing us national attention as the first state legislature to fully pass the measure.

FamilyFoundationBlog: Were you prepared for the heated barrage of questions and, quite frankly, the rude treatment from one of your liberal colleagues in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee? Also, tell us about the close vote in the committee — did it surprise you that it even got reported? How much work went in to convincing Senators Colgan and Puckett to crossover?

Senator Vogel: I knew that the issue would be controversial and politically charged and I think the slim margin of the vote made it that much more tense. I was surprised that the bill passed in a committee with such a large Democratic majority on the committee and that merely reinforces that this is not a partisan issue. Also, it was not a hard sell with Senators Colgan and Puckett, whose votes very much reflect the mood of their districts.

FamilyFoundationBlog: Were you surprised at the big margin the Health Care bills passed in the Senate given the liberal control of that chamber? Have you seen an issue like this before that has so galvanized such a large number of people from all across the political spectrum?

Senator Vogel: Once it passed committee, I was less surprised at the amount of bipartisan support in the full Senate. Again, those numbers just reinforce that these concerns about health care are compelling to people across the political spectrum. No matter what, Virginians don’t believe in a one size fits all health care solution that subjects them to the dictates of a federal bureaucracy that manages health care.

Here’s an update on Health Care Freedom legislation: The three Senate bills — SB 283, SB 311 and SB 417 — passed in historic fashion by the Senate last week, all passed by 16-5 bi-partisan margins in the House Commerce and Labor Committee around 3:30 today. (These bills originally were listed on the committee agenda last week, but were carried over to today. The vote most likely will be 17-5 as one pro-10th Amendment delegate was not there, but delegates are allowed to vote after committee as long as it doesn’t afect the outcome.)

The Senate bills are patroned by Senators Fred Qualye (R-13, Suffolk), Steve Martin (R-11, Chesterfield) and Jill Vogel (R-27, Winchester), respectively. All three bills proceed to the House floor tomorrow and face a projected key vote Thursday. House passage is very much expected, but nothing should be left to chance. Contact your delegate (here) or, to learn who your delegate is, click here. If passed by the House, the bill goes to Governor Bob McDonnell for his signature.

In other words, establishing a 10th Amendment wall around Virginia against the encroachment of federal bureaucrats is within a very short grasp — much quicker and without the huge dust-up most anticipated — making Virginia the first state to do so! The Old Dominion, leading for liberty, again.

That founding principle, ingrained but ignored for so long, that the states and the people, are the sovereigns of this country and commonwealth, may soon have the weight of law in Virginia. Where the central government has no stated role, the people have natural rights to make decisions for themselves. That is the essence of constitutionally guaranteed limited government — government does not grant rights nor issues commands. It secures rights and guards freedom. There’s a rebirth of that now and, as during freedom’s birth at the Founding, it’s finding its bearings in Virginia.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli appeared with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network last night and answered questions from the anchor who appeared stunned Virginia had gone so far so fast in seeking to protect itself from federal intrusion in individuals’ health care decisions. He was referring, of course, to the quick work the General Assembly so far has made in advancing the Virgina Health Care Freedom Act.

To Cuccinelli, it’s not that at all — defending liberty is not far and speed is good in that regard. The AG said it was nice to see “freedom break out again” and for Virginia to be, most likely, the first state to pass such a law, leading now for liberty as it did in the 1700s. He also sounded ready and willing for the fight Cavuto predicted from the feds if and when Virginia asserts itself under the 10th Amendment when and if the central government mandates that individuals purchase particular products.

Cuccinelli: It’s nice to have a bipartisan outbreak of freedom.

The five Virginia Senate Democrats who voted for SB 283, SB 311 and SB 417, the Senate bill for health care freedom and defense of the 10th Amendment, are: Senators Charles Colgan (D-29, Manassas) and Phil Puckett (D-38, Tazewell), who both voted for it committee, as well as Senators Edd Houck (D-17, Spottsylvania), John Miller (D-1, Newport News) and Roscoe Reynolds (D-20, Martinsville). See the vote for SB 283 here, which is identical to the votes for the subsequent bills. The bills are patroned, respectively, by Senators Fred Quayle (R-13, Suffolk), Steve Martin (R-11, Chesterfield) and Jill Vogel (R-27, Winchester).

Just seconds ago, by a vote of 23-17, the Virginia Senate passed SB 283, a bill that asserts Virginians’ rights not to be forced into a federal health care plan or to be forced into buying insurance because of a federal mandate. Five Democrats voted with the 18 Republicans. Details to follow. SB 283 is patroned by Senator Fred Quayle (R-13, Suffolk). The bill now goes to the House of Delegates, where it likely will be referred to the Commerce and Labor Committee.

First, a bit of breaking news: We are very pleased to announce that Lt. Governor Bill Bolling is speaking at 11:00 at Family Foundation Day At The Capitol, today, at the Miller & Rhodes Hilton Garden Inn (6th and Broad Streets), our lobby day headquarters. If you are in the area, and want to hear some great speakers and participate in lobbying your legislators on behalf of traditional family values and conservative principles, please drop by and register on site.

This is an open thread for the thousands of conservative grassroots activists in Richmond today to lobby their elected representatives at the General Assembly. Whether you are one of the hundreds attending Family Foundation Day at the Capitol or one of the 10th Amendment rallies, post your impressions of the day here, on this thread.

Let us know how your meeting with your delegates and senators went, which speakers you liked, what bills you are supporting and opposing, or whatever impressions or suggestions you have — or any interesting or funny stories that you saw or happened to you. We look forward to reading your comments and hope everyone enjoys their day at the capitol.

As mentioned here (and according to the AP), 13 attorneys general are preparing to file suit on behalf of their states to block any eventual nationalization of America’s health care system — or at least leave their states free to choose whether to participate. Virginia Attorney General Bill Mims is one of the 13.

Law suits have been known to work. It is, after all, the states which have the right and obligation to defend themselves from participation in any federal scheme not enumerated in the constitution as a federal responsibility — also known as the 10th Amendment. Of course, the 10th Amendment, nor anything about the constitution, has stopped the federales from increasing its size and scope over our lives throughout recent decades.

But law suits aside, what else can the states do? Apart from the attorney general, who else is in the game? What about legislatures? If Delegate Bob Marshall (R-13, Prince William) has anything to do with it, Virginia’s General Assembly will have a lot to do with it. Last month, he made a presentation to the Tuesday Morning Group Coalition about HB 10, The Health Care Freedom Act, a bill he has already filed. Other patrons thus far are John O’Bannon (R-73, Henrico), Scott Lingamfelter (R-31, Prince William), Harvey Morgan (R-98, Gloucester) and Bob Tata (R-85, Virginia Beach). HB 10 reads, in its entirety, thus:

No law shall restrict a person’s natural right and power of contract to secure the blessings of liberty to choose private health care systems or private plans. No law shall interfere with the right of a person or entity to pay for lawful medical services to preserve life or health, nor shall any law impose a penalty, tax, fee, or fine, of any type, to decline or to contract for health care coverage or to participate in any particular health care system or plan, except as required by a court where an individual or entity is a named party in a judicial dispute. Nothing herein shall be construed to expand, limit or otherwise modify any determination of law regarding what constitutes lawful medical services within the Commonwealth.

Marshall, as ever, is sure of its legislative cure as well as its constitutionality, as we are reminded by Norm Leahy at Tertium Quids. In fact, as Leahy points out, Delegate Marshall offers a Q&A on Dr. Bob Hollsworth’s Virginia Tomorrow blog, asking and answering questions himself, a FAQ tutorial on state legislative prerogative on federal issues, if you will. At least as far as it concerns the federal takeover of the health care industry and individuals’ constitutional rights to be forced into it. 

So, the 10th Amendment lives? We’ll see what Virginia’s General Assembly says — about its own authority. Virginia could make hay as the bulwark against the largest federal power grab in history. That would really give the lawyers something to fight about.

I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Bob Holsworth (Virginia Tomorrow) speak Monday night about the recent elections. He is the best political analyst in Virginia in my opinion and his insights on campaigns and strategies never fail to enlighten.

He said that one of the many aspects where the Creigh Deeds campaign (as well as the Wagner and Shannon campaigns) fell short was in its inability to respond to the federal issues — card check, cap-and-trade, nationalized health care — Republican Bob McDonnell repeatedly raised as not only an intrusion into Virginians’ sovereignty, but as harmful to Virginians themselves —their prosperity, opportunity, way of life, health. In other words, upholding the 10th Amendment, which leaves to the states all powers not specifically delineated to the federal government.

Senator Deeds couldn’t dis President Barack Obama, who historically carried Virginia last year, and turn off the liberal Democrat base and its newly energized voters, by opposing those signature liberal issues. So the best he could do was assert they had nothing to do with running the commonwealth. Dr. Holsworth said Deeds’ inability to satisfactorily deal with this dynamic pleased no one — crucial independents, who broke overwhelmingly to the GOP, nor the base.

Who am I to disagree with Dr. Bob? But I want to add that it was more than that. Defending one’s state against the onslaught of the federal leviathan is a constitutional charge. So it is a legitimate issue. But Senator Deeds, reflective of today’s ingrained liberalism, at the very least couldn’t respond to the issues because he doesn’t understand the 10th Amendment. Doubtful. So that leaves the worst, but more likely, case — a total disregard for it. When state politicians become too comfortable accepting mandates and force-fed programs from Washington, which stunt states from their roles as democratic laboratories and distinctly different places to live, they deserve to lose. Indeed, federal issues always have and always will be integral to state issues because the constitutional relationship of states to the national government demands it.