SENATE, HOUSE OK NEW LOTTERY BUILDING

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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 8, 1993                   TAG: 9304080284
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
SENATE, HOUSE OK NEW LOTTERY BUILDING
A controversial plan to build Virginia's lottery a new multimillion-dollar headquarters in downtown Richmond won approval Wednesday night in the state Senate and in the House of Delegates, where it caught some fire.
After a bevy of speeches in which the proposed $17 million, nine-story building was called a Taj Mahal and a "monument to fiscal irresponsibility," the Senate approved it 23-15 in a vote divided mostly along party lines.
Sen. Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, led the charge for the building, even though statistics developed by legilsative analysts showed that the new building will be more costly than renting or buying space in existing Richmond buildings.
The plan for a new 200,000-square-foot state office building found its greatest support in the House when it was proposed during the regular session of the 1993 General Assembly. But the Senate blocked the project on the final day of the regular session because of concerns over the cost, need for the building and the city's commitment to putting up money for surrounding improvements.
The project was part of a larger bond package, including money for three new prisons.
Gov. Douglas Wilder sent a new bond bill to lawmakers Wednesday that included the projects dumped in February as well as an additional $1 million for a new state forensics laboratory and morgue in Roanoke County.
Senators and delegates tussled over the lottery building into the night Wednesday.
Republicans challenged and derailed a proposal for a lottery building in 1989, also an election year. The gambling agency now rents space in several suburban Richmond buildings.
Derided by critics as a Richmond relief bill, the plan apparently picked up support Wednesday after the Senate Finance Committee adjusted its price to the state from $19.6 million to $17 million.
The city of Richmond also would have to put the $1 million it has pledged to the project in an escrow account before any bonds would be sold.
While the lottery would be the primary tenant, space in the building would be occupied by other state agencies, including the departments for the Aging and of Youth and Family Services.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB