Author Archives: Stephen D. Haner

About Stephen D. Haner

Stephen D. Haner is Senior Fellow for State and Local Tax Policy at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. He may be reached at [email protected].

Northam Finally Abandons Spending Hikes in Face of COVID

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Stephen D. Haner

Perhaps the most important point about Governor Ralph Northam’s latest Virginia state budget proposal is what he did not recommend. He did not recommend dipping into the state’s current cash reserves to restore spending items which had been frozen. No … Continue reading →

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How Discount Power For Poor Will Raise Your Bill

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Stephen D. Haner

Virginia’s two major electric utilities estimate that as many as 150,000 of their poorest residential customers will see their monthly bills reduced next year using money extracted from all their other customers on their own power bills. Appalachian Power Company … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy | Tagged | 1 Comment

New Rules for Employers: There Is No Escape

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Stephen D. Haner

The first thing every employer in Virginia needs to understand about the state’s new COVID-19 temporary workplace standard (here) is it is universal.  It applies to every workplace, public and private, for-profit and non-profit, with 10,000 workers or two.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, State Government | 1 Comment

Something for Everyone in COVID Money Flood

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Stephen D. Haner

Will $50 million be enough? Will that get all the Virginians who have fallen behind due to COVID-19 square on their rent or mortgage payments?  Or is that amount, in a new relief program detailed Monday by the Northam Administration, merely a … Continue reading →

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COVID Declared a Workplace Emergency in Virginia: Will New Regulations Drive Business Out of Business?

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Stephen D. Haner

The Northam Administration’s Safety and Health Codes Board agreed June 24 that COVID-19 in the state’s workplaces demands an emergency state response, but the nature and exact wording of that response remains undecided.  If adopted, formal regulations come with the potential for … Continue reading →

Posted in Government Reform | 1 Comment