THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110373
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Gov. George Allen huddled with aides and legal advisers late Wednesday night to figure out what action to take on a budget bill that was missing entire sections.
Allen faced a midnight deadline for acting on bills approved by the 1996 General Assembly.
Ken Stroupe, a spokesman for the governor, said Allen did not receive a complete copy of the amended 1994-96 budget. He said Allen received Monday only the changes approved in the most recent session.
Stroupe said it appeared the Democrat-controlled legislature was trying to prevent the Republican governor from using his line-item veto authority on portions of the budget that were not changed in the most recent session. The administration believes the governor has such line-item veto authority, Stroupe said.
He said both changes and existing language were presented to Allen's Democratic predecessors.
``We haven't the slightest idea what they're talking about,'' said state Democratic Party spokeswoman Gail Nardi. ``There is no plot, and the dog did not eat the budget.''
The $35 billion budget for 1996-98 was submitted in its entirety, and Allen said he planned to use his line-item veto to make changes in that document.
Any of the 1,066 bills Allen didn't sign by the deadline would become law without his signature. But Stroupe said the governor planned to act on all of the bills.
``We are still in the process of completing that review,'' Stroupe said Wednesday evening.
Allen has said he would use his line-item veto on at least one portion of the 1996-98 billion budget - an amendment requiring the administration to apply for federal Goals 2000 education money if two-thirds of local school boards request it. The money would go to localities for teacher training, curriculum development and new materials.
Allen is against Virginia accepting the $6.7 million in Goals 2000 funds because he believes it would come with too many strings attached in the form of federal regulations.
Stroupe said the short time that Allen had to review the bills' final forms was related to the process of preparing the bills for his signature. The final format is the product of what Stroupe described as ``part procedure, part printing and part formality.'' A division of the state Senate and the House of Delegates drafted each bill in its final form and printed it, and the bills were then sent to the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House for their signatures before being sent to Allen.
KEYWORDS: BUDGET by CNB