Senator Frank Wagner was our guest speaker at the March Membership Meeting. Frank W. Wagner was elected to the State Senate of the Virginia General Assembly during a special election in December 2000, winning nearly 70% of the electoral vote. He currently represents the 7th Senatorial District in Virginia Beach, having won re-election in 2003 and 2007. Today, he is the President of Davis Boat Works, Inc., one of Virginia’s premier small boat repair firms, located in Newport News, Virginia.
Senator Wagner stated that there was a lack of knowledge and perception to what it takes to defend the country and investing money to defend the nation in regards to sequestration. He briefed us on the recent General Assembly session which he deemed the “transportation” session and shared his concerns for the next two years in regards to increasing cost of transportation versus a lack of funding to meet the cost. The Senate plan allows a slight increase in the amount of current sales tax revenue that can be allocated to transportation, raising the percentage from 0.5 percent to 0.55 percent. Senator Wagner proposed an increase on wholesale tax at the rack increase vs. a gas sales tax increase in the event that the Governor’s proposal for passing an internet sales tax was defeated.