ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702240113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
The 1997 General Assembly will be remembered for a law restricting teen-age abortions, a partisan stalemate on judicial appointments and a frenetic pace that tested the limits of Virginia's venerable ``citizen'' legislature.
The 46-day ordeal also gave candidates for governor and two other statewide offices a chance to rehearse their lines for the fall election campaigns.
Despite a bare-knuckle brawl over a state Supreme Court appointee, the looming elections produced few discordant notes. Democrats and Republicans harmonized on making college tuition affordable, cleaning the Chesapeake Bay and putting more cops on the beat.
In their rush to the middle of the political road, the lawmakers approved several measures that - if signed into law by Gov. George Allen - will touch the everyday lives of Virginians.
* First-graders having trouble reading will get special tutoring.
* The poor will get additional legal representation in civil matters.
* Children, 4 to 16, will have to buckle up when riding in the back seat.
* Teens will need to notify a parent before getting a tattoo.
If Virginia's 1997 lawmaking session is remembered for anything, it will be the passage of a law barring minors under 18 from getting an abortion unless they notify a parent.
Supporters say the law will ensure parents that they are involved in their daughters' lives. Opponents counter that it will only make life harder for girls by forcing them to travel out of state for abortions or try to induce their own. They also said it might cause them to wait until the second trimester, when the procedure is more complicated.
The landmark abortion legislation stood in sharp relief to hundreds of innocuous bills that clogged committee dockets. Veteran lobbyists bemoaned the ``themeless and seamless'' session.
"Blah," said Petersburg Democrat Del. Jay DeBoer. "B-L-A-H. For the most part, it's been odds and ends."
The Assembly packs its work load into one of the nation's shortest legislative sessions. By tradition, it convenes for 46 days in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even ones.
Historically, the short sessions have been used to polish the biennial budget and consider matters carried over from the previous years.
In recent years, however, they have turned into full-throttle affairs with a pace so furious that lawmakers sometimes don't understand their votes. Last week, chagrined Senate Finance Committee members learned they had denied $50,000 in relief to a Culpeper man who spent 15 months in prison for a crime he did not commit.
"I would never have voted against that," said Sen. Charles Waddell, D-Loudoun County, who was recorded as doing just that.
Something has to give by 1999, some lawmakers say. The options are limiting the number of bills or extending the session to 60 days. But others warn that giving the Assembly more time would be another step away from the state's tradition of a ``citizen'' legislature.
The 1997 session, considered a snoozer by many, sprung a few surprises.
After two decades of debate, the Assembly semi-retired the official state song, ``Carry Me Back to Old Virginia.'' Critics long have taken offense at lyrics - written by a black minstrel in the 19th century - in which ``darkeys'' pine for the days of ``ole massa.''
``Carry Me Back'' will remain on the law books as state song "emeritus."
In another unexpected development, a powerful corporate interest accustomed to getting its way in the legislature lost a high-stakes turf battle.
Automobile dealers - among the Assembly's most generous campaign contributors - failed in their bid to eliminate competition from ``tent sales,'' often sponsored by credit unions.
Ethics also were a matter of debate.
The Assembly required lobbyists to ``name names'' in their disclosure of entertainment expenses and legislators to report all gifts totaling $100, down from the current threshold of $200.
The 1997 Assembly also was notable for the way Republicans continued to test the limits of their parity with Democrats in the Senate.
Denied influence for most of the 20th century, GOP senators grabbed every chance to use their veto power. They even found a parliamentary tactic that stripped Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer of his tie-breaking prowess on matters requiring 21 votes. During split votes, one Republican senator always would be absent, resulting in a 20-19 tally that fell one vote short of approval.
The consummate flexing of GOP muscle came when the legislature tried to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Republicans lacked the votes to get their candidate on the bench, but they had all the votes needed to keep the Democrats' nominee off.
That impasse left the General Assembly unable to select anyone. The Republicans got the last laugh, however, because now the governor - a Republican - will make the selection.
The November elections - with statewide offices and the 100-member House of Delegates on the ballot - were never far from the minds of legislators.
There was plenty of election-year posturing. Democrats rammed through legislation stripping away authority of Allen's conservative State Board of Education and pre-empting an effort to weaken day-care regulations.
Republicans - under fire for refusing $8.3million in federal Goals 2000 money - turned the tables on Democrats for shunning potential federal funds for semi-private charter schools.
But Republicans and Democrats avoided the open warfare of 1995, when they tried to blow minor policy differences into ideological divides.
Politics this year drove the two sides together. Beyer shored up his tough-on-crime credentials by successfully pushing for state money to match federal funds for 1,000 new police officers. Republican Attorney General Jim Gilmore - and House Republicans - polished their environmental records by backing a $15million down payment on the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.
In the end, all claimed victory and all took credit.
"Basically every single initiative put forth by this administration has come to fruition," Allen declared Saturday night.
Democratic House Speaker Thomas Moss was equally effusive.
"We hit a home run," he said. "Generations of Virginians in ever corner of the state will benefit from these practical measures. And I am proud that we enacted them."
On social issues, however, differences between the parties remain stark. In the Senate, all 20 Democrats joined with one Republican to narrowly defeat efforts to insert a parental rights amendment in the state constitution.
Most Republicans argued that the amendment was a simple affirmation that mothers and fathers - not the state - have the greatest right to direct the upbringing of their children. Democrats maintained that the seemingly innocuous resolution would open schools to a flood of lawsuits from disgruntled parents.
Social conservatives vowed to seek revenge in this fall's elections.
Staff writers Warren Fiske, Laura LaFay and Robert Little contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB