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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994                   TAG: 9409230062
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK and LAURA LAFAY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

`THE PUBLIC MUST COMMENT'

After learning that Gov. George Allen's proposal to abolish parole could cost twice as much as an earlier estimate, the General Assembly recessed Tuesday for a week of public hearings on the issue.

Allen's plan, known as Proposal X, calls for the construction of 27 new prisons at a cost of $1 billion by 2005. But the staff of the Democrat-controlled House Appropriations Committee issued a report this week disputing that figure. At minimum, the report said, "the construction related costs of Proposal X could easily range from $1.9 to $2.2 billion."

Under Proposal X, the annual cost of running the state's prisons would double by the year 2005 - from $455 million to $950 million, according to the report. In addition, it said, the plan will have a "negligible impact on the state's overall crime rate."

Citing the new numbers, Democrats pushed for the recess in order to hear from the public at four hearings scheduled across the state this week. The first two will take place tonight in Chantilly and Wytheville.

"The public absolutely must have the opportunity to comment on proposals that call for the largest commitment of state funds in history and drastically shift Virginia's priorities for the next 20 years," said House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk.

"It is inconceivable that we should act on such a critical issue without hearing from the people and giving very careful scrutiny to the proposals before us."

But Republican members scoffed at the hearings, saying they are just an excuse to give the Democrats more time to stir up opposition to Allen's plan.

"The issue of needing to know how the public feels about this is just a ruse," said Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, a member of the governor's Commission on Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform. "We've had two years of hearings on this."

Allen's commission held four hearings across the state this summer, but some critics have charged that the hearings were stacked with Proposal X supporters.

"They were staged," said John Flannery, a Leesburg attorney associated with Citizens United For the Rehabilitation of Errants.

"They didn't allow anybody to speak except the ones they had arranged to speak in support of Allen's plan. ... These things were listenings rather than hearings."

This week's hearings could be stacked the other way. At an opposition rally this week, Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, urged members of CURE to show up and speak.

The hearings were "scheduled quickly and that's not an accident," Jones said. "And they've been scheduled in [some] places that are hard to get to, and that's not an accident."

Allen has asked the legislature to approve a $367 million bond issue to pay for one-third of his estimated prison construction costs over the next 10 years. Cuts from other government programs, the sale of state-owned property, and voter-approved general obligation bonds can cover the remaining costs, administration officials say.

The General Assembly will reconvene next Tuesday.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

by CNB