Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402280083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The next-to-last week of the session begins with a number of key issues unresolved, including the proposed Disney theme park incentives, legislation to crack down on drunken drivers, a parental notification abortion bill and the $32 billion spending plan for 1994-96.
A final vote on the budget is not scheduled until the session's final week, but a panel of six senior legislators can begin working out differences between the Senate and House of Delegates versions this week. The conference committee must be appointed by midnight Tuesday.
Del. Vincent Callahan, R-Fairfax, has asked House Speaker Thomas Moss to make him the first member of a minority party to serve on the budget conference committee - even if it means expanding the committee to four members from each chamber.
Moss, D-Norfolk, rejected a similar request last year.
Republicans gained six seats in the House in last November's election and now hold 47 of the 100 positions. Appointing a Republican, Callahan said in a letter to Moss last week, is a matter of "simple justice and fair play."
Wrote Callahan, "Without this representation almost half the population of the commonwealth will not be represented on the most important deliberation of the session."
Several major bills are still pending in committees, which must complete their work by March 7. Some of the busiest committees are likely to have weekend meetings.
A House bill to require parental notification when an unmarried minor seeks an abortion will come up in the Senate Education and Health Committee, which has killed such legislation in the past. That's what happened in 1992, but the measure was revived as an amendment to another bill on the Senate floor, where it passed. Then-Gov. Douglas Wilder vetoed it.
Each chamber this week is likely to insist on its own version of incentives for the proposed Disney's America theme park in Prince William County, sending the issue to a conference committee for a possible compromise.
The full Senate will consider the emotional issue of whether relatives of murder victims should be allowed to witness the killer's execution. A bill requiring the Department of Corrections to allow up to three relatives of victims to witness executions cleared a Senate committee on a 7-6 vote.
"I think it will be close on the floor," said Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach and sponsor of the bill. "I want people to think about being in the shoes of that victim when they vote."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB