Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991 TAG: 9103040289
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The recently adjourned assembly passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for recesses of up to 14 days during legislative sessions. That way, lawmakers could give more thoughtful consideration to budget issues and constituent sentiment on the growing volume of bills they must deal with.
Amendments to the state constitution must be approved by two consecutive sessions, then submitted to the voters. So the 1992 assembly also will have to support the recess proposal.
Long advocated by Del. Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock, it was passed this year over the strong objections of some Democratic legislative leaders, including Del. Dick Cranwell of Vinton.
As in the past, opponents resorted to a tired argument against the amendment - that it's the first step toward (gasp!) a full-time legislature.
Foes claim utter chaos will result if legislators are able to take budget matters home during recesses to get a better idea of what constituents think and how local government might be affected. (Imagine: letting the public in on decisions involving taxpayers' money.)
Meanwhile, in the assembly's helter-skelter of recent years, many worthy bills have been discarded for lack of time to give them meaningful consideration. As Virginia has grown to be the 12th largest state, so too has grown the complexity of its problems and of legislative proposals for dealing with them.
As for the bogeyman of a full-time legislature, a good case can be made that recesses would make the part-time legislature more efficient - thus easing pressures for longer sessions.
As it is, many lawmakers admit they often don't know what they're voting on. Every session brings a slew of bills to correct errors made in the haste of past sessions. And rank-and-file legislators rightfully complain that they're asked to approve a final budget fashioned in secret by a six-member conference committee, with very little time to explore ramifications of the conferees' deals.
To their credit, some Democratic leaders, most notably Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews of Hampton, gave Miller help in getting his amendment passed. Opponents couldn't get the backing they needed to kill the bill this year. Once elections are behind them, they're sure to try again.
Republican Miller's recess amendment is a democratic proposal. It would help open up the budget-making process, now tightly controlled by a few senior lawmakers. It would put ordinary taxpayers on a more equal footing with the special-interest lobbyists and bureaucrats in Richmond who crowd around lawmakers during the sessions.
Virginians should insist that it appear on the ballot by November 1992.
by CNB