Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 4, 1990 TAG: 9003042026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
As of Thursday, the legislature had carried over until next year 281 of the 2,098 bills and resolutions that were introduced in this session. The lawmakers appear on track to match or surpass the procrastination performance of the 1988 session, which carried over 284 of 1,997 measures.
Legislators say a variety of factors, including a heavy workload, are responsible for their inability or unwillingness to act on about 15 percent of the bills introduced each year. They say no solution is in sight.
"It would be great if we could get the bills filed sooner," said Del. Samuel Glasscock, D-Suffolk. "But I don't think that's going to happen. Every year, we have a flood of legislation requested right before the cutoff. There's not enough time for the Division of Legislative Services to put all the bills in the best possible form."
When that happens, it is up to the committees to iron out the problems in the bills before they reach the House floor. The committees, frustrated and under deadline pressure, often are simply unable to get the problems resolved.
Del. Phoebe Orebaugh, R-Rockingham, also favors an earlier deadline for filing legislation. The 1990 session began on Jan. 15, and lawmakers had until Jan. 23 to introduce bills.
"If we could get everything filed on the first or second day of the session, it would sharply limit some of this useless legislation," she said.
Orebaugh once favored another method of curtailing the General Assembly's workload. Last year, she proposed a resolution limiting the number of bills a legislator could introduce to 10 for House members and 15 for senators. Currently, there is no limit to the numbers of bills a lawmaker can introduce. Orebaugh's bill was killed by the House Rules Committee.
"It seems like a lot of bills have been carried over this year, probably because we have to handle so many," Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, said after a committee put off until next year his bill to prohibit the release of nonbiodegradable balloons. "If we actually do some spadework on these bills between session, it's usually a good idea."
But while bills generally are carried over for the purported purpose of further study, many never get another look until the following session.
"It's easier to carry something over until next year and then kill it than to just kill it on the spot," said House Minority Leader Raymond Guest Jr. of Warren County. "I would guess that half the bills carried over this year will be killed. It's just part of the process."
Glasscock agreed.
"A lot of bills are carried over because the committees believe they don't have much merit," he said. "Most of them will be dealt with summarily in the first week of the next session."
Glasscock said carrying over a bill often is "a friendly way" of burying the measure.
"It's a nice way of saving the sponsor's feelings," Orebaugh said. "But really, there's not much difference between carrying over a bill and killing it. If it's killed, you can always reintroduce it the following year."
Orebaugh said several controversial bills she introduced have been carried over.
"I wonder what effect it's going to have on the next session," she said. "If I have a heavy load of new legislation, it's going to be difficult to handle it all."
by CNB