
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210415
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

CONFEREES RESUME TALKS

With the Senate's lead negotiator back at work after a two-night hospital stay, a General Assembly conference committee Wednesday resumed talks on how to plug a $2.2 billion hole in the state budget.

The conferees met face-to-face for less than two hours Tuesday night and failed to settle any major budget issues. The negotiators spent much of the night holed up in separate offices, either not communicating or doing so through staff members.

Among the major issues on the table are whether to use part of the state's $200 million reserve to help balance the budget, how many days of unpaid leave should be imposed on state employees, and how much to cut public education aid.

Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews of Hampton resumed his duties Wednesday after being sidelined with chest pains.

Sen. Dudley Emick, D-Fincastle, replaced Andrews on the conference committee Tuesday. The panel of six senior Democratic legislators was unable to meet Tuesday's midnight deadline for reaching a budget compromise. The General Assembly changed its rules Wednesday, pushing the deadline back by one day.

The assembly's schedule, approved early in the session, called for the conferees' report to be on legislators' desks by noon today - a day earlier than in previous sessions. Now it appears the report will not be ready until Friday.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

by CNB