THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050223
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS AND WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 167 lines
Somehow in the next five days Virginia's $35 billion budget will be passed.
But a procedural fight among three legislative titans - including two from Norfolk - is gumming the works. It could result in legislators having little time to digest last-minute changes in the budget before voting on them.
At stake, say House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. and Senate Finance Committee co-chairmen Stanley C. Walker and John H. Chichester, are principle and philosophy, as well as political payback.
At issue is who gets to serve on a plum committee charged with working out a compromise between House and Senate versions of the state budget. By tradition, each chamber appoints four members.
But this year, as part of a power-sharing arrangement between Democrats and Republicans, the Senate decided to increase its membership to five. The problem is that the House has refused to expand, and Moss has ordered House conferees not to meet until the Senate accedes.
Normally, with the end of the session approaching Saturday, the budget negotiators would be haggling over such issues as how much to raise teachers' pay or whether to divert industryrecruitment dollars to schools.
Instead, they aren't talking.
As a midnight deadline for reaching a compromise on the budget looms, senators are only conferring with other senators on the budget and delegates with delegates.
``We've not even established procedure and we're not going to establish it until the Senate gives us four (conferees) to meet with,'' said Del. Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, one of the House negotiators.
There's at least a three-way split on how the issue should be resolved:
Moss, who sees a 10-member conference committee as unwieldy, unwarranted and unprecedented is insisting that the Senate drop a person.
Chichester, the Republican co-chair from Fredericksburg, is insisting that Sen. Virgil H. Goode Jr., D-Rocky Mount, stay. Goode was promised one of the five Senate seats in return for siding with Republicans on some critical organizational votes.
And Walker, a Norfolk Democrat, is insisting that the Senate honor seniority as long as Chichester isn't naming a Republican to the committee. If there is to be a four-member team, based on seniority, it should be Walker, Chichester, Charles J. Colgan of Manassas and Joseph V. Gartlan, he says.
Colgan is one of the Senate's most conservative Democrats; Gartlan is one of the most liberal.
Walker believes the budget views could be shaped by five senators and four delegates without tipping power away from the House. Last year, he said, the budget conference committee never actually met, but sent messages back and forth through staff until agreement was reached.
Diamonstein remembers the matter differently. In his recollection, last year's eight-member committee actually voted on specific budget questions. In that scenario, giving the Senate one extra vote would be unwise, he suggested.
While the House and the Senate are largely in agreement on most major spending points, there are important differences on teacher pay raises, testing public school students, spending for economic development and a variety of issues.
Moss said that today's deadline for conference committee action on the budget could be extended. But with the General Assembly scheduled to adjourn Saturday, Moss warned that each hour of delay will mean one less hour that lawmakers will have to review to the spending compromise.
An aide to Walker said that Moss had banned the House appropriations staff from talking with the Senate finance staff. Moss couldn't be reach for comment late Monday.
Lawmakers are predicting a showdown in the legislative session's final days over two controversial measures related to abortions.
A bill requiring parental notification for minors who seek abortions has passed the House of Delegates. A bill outlawing ``feticide'' - the killing of a fetus by means other than abortions - has cleared the Senate. Both measures consistently spark emotional debate.
To see the General Assembly's actions Monday, the future of the two issues would seem dire. A Senate committee voted 9-6 to block parental notification, and the feticide bill went before the House Courts of Justice Committee with a recommendation it be killed.
But ``no'' only means ``maybe'' in the General Assembly, and supporters expect both matters to be revived again before Saturday's deadline for considering this year's legislation.
State legislators tried Monday to ban a proposed Brew Thru convenience store at the Oceanfront. Again.
And they failed. Again.
Two weeks ago, a Senate committee thwarted plans to ban the drive-through convenience stores, so Chesapeake Sen. Mark L. Earley tried to force the measure before the full Senate. Members voted 14-24 against him.
The Virginia Beach City Council and police chief oppose the store, which would sell beer and wine, because they object to any link between alcohol and driving.
Owners of the proposed Brew Thru under construction at 29th Street and Pacific Avenue said they hope Monday's vote is the last effort to block their operation, scheduled to open in May.
``Obviously, we're very happy with the outcome,'' said George Hazzis, one of three owners of the store who say they want to build 50 or more in the next several years. They still need a license to sell alcohol, and will argue before the ABC Board March 13.
The Brew Thru and Breeze Thru stores would be similar to other convenience stores, but would be built to allow vehicles to drive inside. State ABC regulations prohibit selling alcohol to anyone driving a car, so customers would have to stop their cars and walk to a counter to purchase beer or wine.
Legislative debate over the concept has, at times, been emotional, with the stores alternately derided as an invitation for minors to drink and hailed as a safe way for women to make purchases after dark.
``This would give us the opportunity to go and buy some milk for our children and stay in our cars,'' said Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax.
Opponents of the stores called such arguments merely the product of some clever lobbying.
``This is not about the establishment at Virginia Beach only, it's about state policy,'' said Earley, who represents a small portion of Virginia Beach.
``Almost everything we have done over the last 15 years with reference to the ABC has been to disassociate alcohol and driving. In my opinion, we look foolish allowing this to go forward in light of all we've done.''
A Senate committee Monday endorsed legislation that would force Gov. George F. Allen's administration to move faster on cleanup plans for rivers that empty into the Chesapeake Bay.
The Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee sent the bill to the Senate floor on a voice vote.
In 1993, Gov. L. Douglas Wilder signed a regional agreement requiring Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., to extend a Chesapeake Bay pollution cleanup program to the Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James rivers. Virginia has not complied with the plan.
The bill would require Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Norton Dunlop to write specific river cleanup plans. Plans would be due by Jan. 1, 1997, for the Potomac and one year later for the other major tributaries. Plans for the remaining minor coastal basins would be required by Jan. 1, 1999. Implementation deadlines have been dropped from the bill.
The General Assembly on Monday sent Gov. Allen a bill intended to prevent unscrupulous settlement agents from taking advantage of buyers during real estate closings.
The Senate approved the House version of a bill that would bring unlicensed, lay settlement agents under state regulation.
Unlicensed agents have stolen buyers' money during home sales in a number of recent incidents, says Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, the bill's sponsor.
Settlement agents examine the purchase contract, property title and other documents and close the transaction according to the lender's instructions.
Most are affiliated with a licensed title company, but others are freelancers who have no license or accountability, according to Edwards.
The bill would go into effect on July 1, 1997.
The House of Delegates voted 78-20 Monday to make English the official language in Virginia.
``Having a single language is one of the most important threads that holds our country together,'' said Del. George W. Grayson, D-James City County.
Grayson said the bill encourages immigrants to learn English and clarifies that state and local government agencies are not required to conduct business in any other language.
But Del. James F. Dillard III, R-Fairfax, said the bill would ``whet the appetite of the anti-immigrant feeding frenzy that's going on in this country.''
Next stop for the bill: back to the Senate for approval of House amendments.
Legislation that could boost the retirement benefits of state employees who formerly worked for local governments was sent Monday to Allen. The House voted 83-13 to pass the bill.
It allows a state worker to count years of service in city or county government when calculating his pension, provided the employee is fully vested in the local pension plan and the locality agrees to transfer the credits. MEMO: Staff writer Robert Little and The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB