Campaign Virginia was incorporated in September 1994 to work on environmental and consumer issues. Our unique approach to environmental/consumer mobilization and organizing often wins on issues that would not otherwise be resolved in the public interest.
Field and phone canvassing is an integral part of Campaign Virginia's program planning to target elected officials with letters, phone calls and telewires. Without these tools, Campaign Virginia would not have won on a variety of issues. For instance:
Campaign Virginia started as an organization by working on national pesticide legislation, HR 4091,
the Food and Safety Act of 1994. HR 4091 was designed to reduce the number of carcinogenic pesticides on fruits and vegetables and set tolerances levels to better protect the health of children. Eventually, the legislation passed with Representative Tom Bliley, chair of the U.S. House Commerce Committee, facilitating the bill's final passage.
In 1995, Campaign Virginia mounted a major year-and-a-half campaign to give Virginian citizens legal standing to challenge state-issued pollution permits given to major industries or municipalities. Virginia had been the only state in the country to deny its citizens the right to go to court to challenge such permits. Campaign Virginia's canvassing played a major role in final passage of HB 1412 to change that. Campaign Virginia delivered over 65,000 signatures and 20,000 letters to the state legislature; then, Governor George Allen; and the EPA on the issue. Campaign Virginia participated in a coordinated lobby effort with a number of major-environmental groups. Previous to Campaign Virginia's involvement in the Virginia General Assembly, introduced bills had failed four years consecutively.
On the consumer side, Campaign Virginia generated close to 1500 letters for the 1995 Virginia General Assembly session to forestall the introduction of legislation that would have legalized subrogation. It’s a practice by your medical insurance company to legally recover first the cost of medical bills they paid from any settlement you won as the result of a lawsuit for an accident you suffered despite what the award was intended to compensate.
Also in 1995, Campaign Virginia worked with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to pressure the EPA and Virginia to regulate the use of TBT, a toxic additive in ship paint used by the shipyards in Hampton Roads.
Again, on the consumer side, Campaign Virginia generated mail to legislators on cumulative trauma workers compensation in the 1996 Virginia General Assembly session. This legislation finally passed in 1997 to cover injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome and on-the-job hearing loss.
Campaign Virginia has signed onto numerous coalition letters and generated mail on national legislation that affects all Virginians. The issues include “takings”, regulatory reform, wetlands re-definition, and product liability reform among others.
Campaign Virginia’s major focus since 1997 has been our involvement in a statewide coalition of grassroots activists and groups working on solid waste issues. Specifically, we are working to pass national and state interstate waste legislation. Campaign Virginia's state efforts that included political canvassing, media, and work with legislators resulted in the passage of major legislation in the 1999 General Assembly session. Bills that banned barge transport of municipal solid waste, placed 1998 caps or a 2,000-ton per day disposal limit on individual landfills, and that improved regulations for siting landfills along with stronger regulations for truck transport of waste were all approved. Also, resolutions urging Congress to pass national legislation won almost unanimous approval.
Campaign Virginia has since focused our efforts towards passage of national interstate waste legislation in Congress. We spent two years working to build support for that legislation among Virginia’s Congressional Delegation and worked to amend HR 1213 – the Solid Waste Interstate Transportation Act of 2001 (Greenwood-PA) to give Virginia specific additional authority to limit and reduce waste imports. We participated in writing those proposed amendments with the staffs of VA Representatives Jo Ann Davis and Jim Moran and our work resulted in a discussion draft in which 80% of what we asked for was incorporated, unfortunately the key elements that we needed for the bill to be effective for Virginia were not added.
That resulted in Rep. Jo Ann Davis introducing her own bill in the 107th and 108th Congress – the latest version is H.R.1123. This bill is the strongest in Congress and is supported by a majority of Virginia’s Congressional delegation and Governor Mark Warner. Our work to move two resolutions - HJ 247 (Louderback) and SJ 79 (Obenshain) - through the 2004 General Assembly was instrumental in gaining the Governor’s support.
Passage of an interstate waste bill in Congress is critical since Virginia’s appeal of setbacks in federal court regarding the 1999 waste laws passed by the General Assembly was denied a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court – which leaves congressional action as the only remedy.
The House Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives is soon going to take up the subject of a national interstate waste bill. If a bill passes that benefits Virginia, it will be because of the impact that field and phone canvassing has on the political process when wedded to superior organizing and mobilization.
Campaign Virginia has generated tens of thousands of letters and constituent phone calls, and hundreds of thousands of signatures on the interstate waste issue. These efforts, in tandem with our lobby work, media contact and local organizing have elevated the issue of interstate waste to one of statewide and national significance.
Remember, there is no substitute for personal contact when you want to involve the public for the greater good!