THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502220443
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The state Senate narrowly approved a $106 million compromise package for new prison construction Tuesday, which Republicans said will leave Virginia with a shortfall in inmate beds.
The Senate voted 21-19, split mostly along party lines, to approve the package of $8.6 million in cash and $97.5 million in debt to make room for 10,340 additional prisoners.
Democratic Sen. Virgil H. Goode Jr. of Franklin County joined all 18 Republicans in opposing the plan.
The Democratic package represents less than a quarter of the money Republican Gov. George F. Allen proposed borrowing to handle his new no-parole policy.
Public Safety Secretary Jerry W. Kilgore, an Allen appointee, said the Democratic plan would put ``the safety of Virginians in peril.''
``Their actions today have seriously shortchanged Virginia's ability to house violent criminals,'' Kilgore said in a written statement.
But Democrats called the plan a healthy compromise that cuts the amount of debt the state would incur from building prisons while adequately planning for future capacity to house criminals.
About $6 million would be used to send 500 inmates to out-of-state prisons, probably in Texas.
``It's a modest amount of debt, it keeps us on track to keep up with increased population, and it frees up beds right now to relieve the local jails,'' said Sen. Richard J. Holland, D-Windsor, who helped piece the plan together.
The Senate originally had approved $192 million for prison construction, but the House of Delegates approved only $59.7 million. The plan approved Tuesday was crafted by three members from each chamber.
The compromise is pending before the House of Delegates.
Sen. Charles R. Hawkins, R-Danville, called the plan a ``Scarlett O'Hara approach to prison construction - we'll worry about that tomorrow.''
The deal removed a proposal from the House that required some of the borrowed money to be approved by voters in a referendum. It also delayed construction for the so-called ``Red Onion'' maximum security prison slated to be built on a reclaimed strip coal mine near the Wise and Dickenson County line.
Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, made good on a promise Tuesday and tried once again to push plans for optional drug testing in public schools through the state Senate. He was rejected on a voice vote.
It was the second straight day Earley failed to get the measure attached to another piece of legislation.
The plan, originally sponsored in the House of Delegates by Del. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, would have allowed local school systems to establish random drug screening for students. Wagner's bill passed the House, but was killed in a Senate committee.
``It is a purely permissive, purely voluntary program,'' said Earley, who tried to amend the plan onto another education bill.
``You know, for a long time we've had this campaign that basically says, `Say no to drugs.' Well, this would give kids something to help them combat peer pressure and say no.''
Opponents said the proposal would simply place another burden on educators.
``I think we're trying to load down the schools - to have them be everything to everybody, to cure every ill,'' said Sen. Clarence A. Holland, D-Virginia Beach. MEMO: Staff writer David M. Poole contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Sen. Virgil H. Goode Jr., a Democrat, joined Republican opposition.
Sen. Mark L. Earley's plans for optional drug testing in schools
failed.
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