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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 11, 1995                   TAG: 9502130021
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: THOMAS G. BAKER JR.
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WORKING LONG INTO THE NIGHT

Many controversial measures were debated on the floor and in committees as late as 1 a.m. over last weekend. As you know, riverboat gambling is dead. Two gun control measures were also killed.

The House gave 99-0 approval of a parental notice bill Tuesday.

Welfare reform was another major topic. Last Friday, Del. Robert Orrock's HB2403 was taken up by the House Education Committee. This legislation provided that welfare benefits would be cut off to those parents who do not make their children go to school and meet the attendance laws. I serve on the Education Committee and voted for this bill. However, it failed to receive enough votes to be sent to the full House for consideration. The governor's welfare reform package was defeated in the Health and Welfare Committee last Saturday. However, this measure was offered on the floor Tuesday as an amendment to Del. David Brickley's welfare reform bill that did make it our of committee. The governor's plan would have put 74,000 welfare recipients on the program statewide and required them to be working within two years or face loss of benefits. The Brickley plan puts 9,000 people in much the same position, but will not be in effect statewide. I voted for the governor's bill both in committee and on the floor. It failed on the floor by a vote of 48 to 52. I did, thereafter, vote for the Brickley welfare bill as I truly believe an overhaul of this system is long overdue. People who are able to work should have an incentive to find work and to go to work. The Brickley version passed 99- 0.

Going into last weekend, the House Finance Committee had killed both of the governor's major tax relief initiatives. The vote among the 22 member committee to kill the legislation was not entirely along party lines. The governor thereafter sought to have the full House consider the personal exemption tax reduction bill by direct introduction to the House floor through a parliamentary maneuver. It will be argued that the final vote on the parliamentary maneuver amounted to a vote on the tax cut itself. I joined with all 52 Democrats, and three other Republicans, in voting against the parliamentary rule. By holding back on tax cuts for now, we may be able to save all cooperative extension funding; restore cuts to Tech and Radford University; preserve additional money for police protection; keep services for children such as Head Start; funding for public broadcasting and most importantly maintain our commitment to school children through money for education. In my opinion, the benefits of properly funding these types of programs and services currently outweigh the need for cutting taxes in Virginia where our rate is among the lowest in the nation.

I also want to note that the overwhelming number of calls and letters I have received from you expressed the desire to forego minor tax relief this year in order to maintain funding of these important types of programs and initiatives.

I can be reached at (804) 786-6605 and by mail at Room 446, General Assembly Building, Capitol Square, P.O. Box 406, Richmond, Va., 23203, or through my Dublin office of 674-4081 and P.O. Box 1847, Dublin, Va., 24084.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

by CNB