Bill Text: VA SR59 | 2018 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending Richard E. Hickman, Jr.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2018-03-08 - Bill text as passed Senate (SR59ER) [SR59 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2018-SR59-Enrolled.html
WHEREAS, Richard E. Hickman, Jr., Deputy Staff Director for the Virginia Senate Finance Committee, retired on October 1, 2017, after 41 years of dedicated service to the General Assembly, including 38 years to the Senate Finance Committee; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman worked for the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission from 1974 to 1977 and was Director for Programs for the American Society for Public Administration in Washington, D.C., from 1977 to 1979; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman joined the Virginia Senate Finance Committee staff on October 1, 1979, as the committee's first legislative analyst; he assisted the director in creating an environment that to this day still encourages professional, nonpartisan, objective staff work in support of the committee's mission to oversee the state budget; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman provided staff support for the Subcommittee on Public Safety and for the Subcommittee on General Government for budget review for the Legislative and Judicial Departments and Executive Offices; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman also provided staff support for the Subcommittee on Health and Human Resources from the 1980 through 1990 Sessions of the General Assembly, and he was promoted to Deputy Staff Director on December 1, 1988; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman coordinated the logistics for the annual Virginia Senate Finance Committee retreats, for the joint Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committee regional public hearings on the Governor's proposed budgets, and for the committee's regional trips to Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, the Shenandoah Valley, Southside, and Western Virginia; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman developed long-term, effective working relationships with the key elected and appointed officials in Virginia in the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of state government, in local governments, and outside of government, in order to provide timely, complete, and reliable information to the committee, and to express professional judgments and make recommendations as necessary for the committee to meet its responsibilities; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman assisted the committee in encouraging development of adult and juvenile correctional organizations that maintain security as the highest priority, balanced sentencing policies with available resources, promoted efficiently operated facilities and programs, and achieved desired balanced between incarceration, community supervision, and treatment, in order to reduce the rate of recidivism and protect public safety; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman assisted the committee in providing appropriate levels of fiscal support and oversight for all of the other agencies within the criminal justice system, including state and local police, law-enforcement training academies, correctional education, emergency services, military and veterans affairs, the state court system, public defenders and Commonwealth's attorneys, and related local government and nongovernmental organizations; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman participated in the initial development of the offender forecasting process during the 1980s and the work of the joint subcommittee in the early 1990s that developed the process for preparing corrections fiscal impact statements for proposed sentencing legislation; he also coordinated the review of the Governor's proposed parole abolition initiative in 1994; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman coordinated the restructuring of Medicaid reimbursement systems in the 1981 and 1982 Sessions, and the Joint Subcommittee on Health Care for all Virginians during the 1980s, culminating in successful efforts in 1990 to authorize an indigent care trust fund for the uninsured and low-cost health insurance as well as a new commission to review mandated benefits; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman coordinated the subcommittee's efforts to address cross-cutting issues concerning treatment of the mentally ill within the criminal justice system, resulting in increased attention to this problem; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman's achievements were recognized by the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Officers when he received the Staff Achievement Award in 2007; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman has begun enjoying his well-deserved retirement by spending more time with his wife, Rebecca, his three children, and his four grandchildren, as well as enjoying his many hobbies, which include hiking, playing the guitar, and studying Virginia, United States, and world history; and
WHEREAS, Dick Hickman has already begun an encore, teaching the next generation of public servants in Virginia Commonwealth University's Virginia Capital Semester program; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate of Virginia, That Richard E. Hickman, Jr., hereby be commended for his more than four decades of service to the General Assembly on the occasion of his retirement as Deputy Staff Director for the Senate Finance Committee in 2017; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Richard E. Hickman, Jr., as an expression of the Senate of Virginia's admiration for his service to the Commonwealth.
