Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 6, 1995 TAG: 9502060092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The spending cuts - totaling more than $149 million - no longer are necessary now that the General Assembly has rejected Allen's plan to slash taxes.
Senate Finance Chairman Hunter Andrews said he hoped the money committees' bipartisan support for the spending-cut restorations would put an end to what he called the most ``strident, shrill, partisan'' rhetoric he has heard in his 31 years in the General Assembly.
``For my part,'' the Hampton Democrat said, ``I would hope we could spend the remainder of the session focused ... less on the political gamesmanship of an upcoming November election.''
An hour later, however, Allen engineered a procedural tactic designed to press the Democrat-controlled assembly to cut revenue and spending.
Allen used his executive privilege to introduce legislation that would require the state to give up $300 million in annual state lottery revenues and give the money to local governments.
The bill, Allen said in a letter, would ``impose needed discipline on state spending while channeling significant new resources back into Virginia's communities.''
Democratic lawmakers called the bill a political stunt timed to divert attention from the money committees' repudiation of many of his spending cuts.
``I think he's floundering,'' said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County. ``The bills are coming down from the third floor like fliers coming down over Germany in World War II.''
Spending plans recommended by the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee both restore funding to services for the state's most vulnerable residents. Both versions would countermand Allen's proposed cuts in such programs as home-delivered meals for elderly shut-ins, medical benefits for teen-agers from low-income families and dropout-prevention grants to local school systems.
Higher education would get one-third of the restored funds, or about $50 million. Allen's proposed cuts to state-funded colleges and universities drew strong opposition from business leaders and three former governors.
There are scores of differences in the Senate and House budget plans.
The Senate Finance Committee proposes a $47 million initiative to tie public schools into the ``information superhighway.'' The House version does not contemplate such a plan, which would be funded through a state fund that provides low-interest loans for school construction.
The House would restore the entire $12.4 million slated for cuts in the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, while the Senate version would reinstate $10.2 million.
The Senate would restore $2.1 million in grants to public television and radio, while the House would put back $1.1 million.
The two chambers will have to reconcile their differences before the General Assembly adjourns Feb. 25.
Both budget versions would restore cuts to non-state museums and arts groups in Southwest Virginia, including Explore Park, the Virginia Museum of Transportation and the Science Museum of Western Virginia.
Both versions would restore most of the $700,000 that had been earmarked for the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center through Virginia Tech. The Senate would restore $600,000; the House, $500,000.
As expected, there will be no separate College of Global Studies at Radford University. But the Senate Finance plan would provide Radford with $1.1 million in the 1995-96 school year for 10 faculty to teach some of the courses that would have been taught in the proposed college. The House Appropriations plan would provide $250,000 for the same purpose.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB