THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060327
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
It was bound to happen, and Virginia's 40 state Senators spent months bracing for it: The new Senate cast its first tie vote of the year Monday.
But members still got so dazed and befuddled that they had to whip out their constitutions and debate for 20 minutes, before overturning the vote to try again another day.
In a vote over a proposed constitutional amendment to let citizens petition proposed laws to referendum, the 20-20 partisan Senate achieved the inevitable: A tie. Twenty yeas, twenty nays.
The vote was not split along party lines, but it nonetheless created a parliamentary predicament. Does the lieutenant governor have the power to cast the deciding vote?
Normally, there would be no question. On regular laws, the lieutenant governor breaks ties.
But the constitution says tricky issues like constitutional amendments require the votes of at least 21 elected members. Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. cast a negative vote nonetheless, saying that in such instances he is an elected Senate member. ``I believe that it is my responsibility - and the responsibility of all lieutenant governors - to vote in the case of all ties,'' he said.
But Republicans didn't like the precedent, Beyer being a Democrat. If he claims such power on issues like judicial nominations or votes on the state budget, he steals their biggest bargaining chip.
They voted to reconsider the vote, then delayed it until today.
``We'll have some time to think,'' said Republican Sen. John Chichester.
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