Politics & Government

Town Hall Talks E-Verify, Transportation and Jobs

Sen. Barker's town hall meeting Saturday morning covered three big topics.

About 25 people turned out to theby Senator George Barker (D-39) Saturday morning at the McCoart Building.

Sen. Barker and Delegate Rich Anderson (R-51) originally scheduled the town hall, but

Del. Anderson announced Friday that he would hold a “make up” town hall session in lieu of his absence Saturday morning.

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Sen. Barker updated his constituents on several items that transpired at this year’s General Assembly, but the focus remained on transportation and

E-Verify Questions Still Remain

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E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows employers to know if they person they are considering to hire is eligible to work in the United States.

The legislation came to fruition in the General Assembly fourth years ago by Sen. Barker but only passed this year.  It will not go into effect until 2013, however.

One resident expressed concern that the E-Verify bill is not enforceable.

“We don’t know exactly what will be done,” said Sen. Barker. “We will be negotiating over the next two years. The state can enforce it, but it is not clear yet how the state will enforce it.”

Improving Transportation

Transportation is still a main focus of his, said Sen. Barker.

“This year we had an initiative on transportation that helped move us forward in construction issues,” said Sen. Barker. “We came through with some of the bonds that would be floated in out years, 2015, 2016, 2017 and get those done earlier. The rationale for that is that interest rates and construction rates are low and we should take advantage of that. 

The end result is that we are moving projects forward, said Sen. Barker.

Sen. Barker said that in terms of pavement management, the state is doing less than half of what should be done.

“We should be spending $700 some odd million dollars in maintenance in the Commonwealth in a year and we’re spending $300 million,” said Barker of an article featuring an interview with

We are in a situation where potholes are the norm and rather than the exception, said Sen. Barker.

Needing Better Job Development

Sen. Barker spoke to the need for better job development, commercial/industrial tax base in Prince William County so that half the county does not need to commute out of the area for employment. “We need to address that imbalance,” said Sen. Barker “It will reduce some of our transportation problems as well.”

Sen. Barker also said that the community lost out to some great opportunities for businesses because the state doesn’t offer incentives that others do. 

Facebook was looking at developing a major operation here,” said Sen. Barker. “They needed data centers and things and were looking at Prince William County because of its proximity to Washington, D.C.”

In the end Sen. Barker said Facebook went to North Carolina because of the incentives offered by that state, and the state put a $483 million investment in the company.

Google was also looking at Prince William County said Sen. Barker but that the company made the same decision as Facebook – to situate in North Carolina. 

Previously, the Governor’s Opportunity Fund did not allow for such large investments to be made but that has since changed.   

Also in attendance at Saturday’s town hall were Occoquan Supervisor Mike May ­ – whose district is now in Sen. Barker’s jurisdiction since redistricting occurred ­– and his opponent for this fall’s election Scott Martin.


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