Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 1, 1993 TAG: 9302010260
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
'93 ASSEMBLY
LEGISLATORS are complaining about the poky pace of the '93 General Assembly. They've been in Richmond for 20 days of the 46-day "short" session, and it seems little or nothing of significance has been accomplished.Some blame it on gun-control proposals. At last count, more than 70 gun-control bills had been introduced. The issue has so dominated the session that it's been sidetracking everything else.
But "everything else" amounts to a considerable source of gridlock as well.
State lawmakers have introduced 2,369 bills and resolutions - an all-time record for either "short" or "long" sessions.
There are so many that the presses are running night and day and still haven't printed them all.
And never mind the assembly's self-flaunted reputation for fiscal restraint. The honorables, each with his or her own favorite project, have called for more than $1.6 billion in new spending. No one calls his own a pork-barrel item.
This, despite Gov. Wilder's warnings that the state can afford only about $116 million in midterm budget revisions. This, despite most legislators' vowed diehard resistance to tax increases.
Chalk it up, say some, to the fact that all 100 members of the House of Delegates face re-election in the fall. They want to show voters some effort to bring home the bacon.
But some of the 2,369 measures are worthy, and deserve serious consideration. So far there is scant evidence they're getting it.
Meanwhile, there's the usual full calendar of social events, most of them sponsored by lobbying organizations and special-interest groups, for legislators.
Some committees and subcommittees apparently are having a hard time scheduling extra meetings because there are so many parties and happenings outside the Capitol competing for lawmakers' time.
Of course, lawmakers can always save time later - time that might otherwise be spent considering bills. They can rely on the lobbyists to tell them how to vote when the rush to legislate begins.