Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991 TAG: 9103030151
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Those are a few of the questions the General Assembly hopes to get answered before it convenes in January for the 1992 regular session.
While the assembly is not in session, its work will continue as lawmakers and state officials study issues that may be the subjects of future legislation.
The 1991 General Assembly passed dozens of resolutions creating new studies or continuing old ones. Lawmakers say the between-session studies are a vital part of the legislative process.
"The studies have been extremely valuable for us," said Del. Samuel Glasscock, D-Suffolk. "Some of the best legislation has come out of these studies. You have time to really work on it, and you can bring experts in to provide information."
The testimony of experts is not the only benefit, said Del. George Grayson, D-Williamsburg.
"In meetings around the state, we really learn what people think about things," said Grayson. "It puts us cheek-by-jowl with the people."
For example, Grayson said legislators studying transportation problems in the Tidewater area assumed bridge and tunnel tolls would be a popular solution because local government officials liked the idea. Citizens attending a public hearing convinced them otherwise.
Such studies keep Virginia's citizen-legislators busy year-round. Grayson estimated that he attends an average of one meeting a week while the assembly is not in session.
However, Grayson said the state's budget crunch has forced the legislature to rein in its spending on studies. He said fewer studies are being conducted, and the budgets for those studies are smaller than in the past.
"Also, there's a trend toward asking state agencies to study an issue instead of having legislators do it," Grayson said.
The fungal threat to the dogwood, Virginia's official floral emblem, will be scrutinized by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service.
Issues that are not probed by special legislative committees or state agencies sometimes are examined by the assembly's regular committees. The House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee, for example, will study funding for the arts.
Glasscock sponsored a resolution continuing a joint subcommittee studying preventable death and disability. He said the panel is examining ways to promote disease prevention.
"We have a health-care system, but not a health-care policy," Glasscock said. "The system is designed to develop technologies to fight disease, to cure people, but not enough attention is given to prevention."
Grayson serves on the subcommittee examining the problem of crack-addicted babies. "It's an extraordinarily complicated issue," Grayson said.
He said information gleaned from meetings this year "will be important in trying to crystallize a reasonable public policy and in educating a handful of legislators."
Among the other topics targeted for study are drug-free work places, comparative price advertising, campus rape, jail construction financing, problems of incarcerated women and playground equipment safety.
by CNB