Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
In the legislative session that ended last month, 571 bills introduced in the House of Delegates were approved and 993 failed. In the Senate, 296 bills were passed and 349 failed.
Bills fail either because they are killed outright or not acted upon.
House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, who led the Democratic revolt against Republican Gov. George Allen, speculated that the combination of a short, 46-day session and Allen's many initiatives limited legislators' attention.
``Our time was relatively meager,'' Cranwell said. ``Any bill that had at least the hint of little merit was easily disposed of.''
Allen was riding a tide of popular support last year extending from his landslide election victory. This year, Democrats and Republicans were focused on November's elections. The GOP has its best chance ever of taking control of either chamber this fall.
Because this is an election year, many legislators likely introduced bills that were designed to ``build their resumes,'' said Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County.
Many of these bills could not stand the light of legislative scrutiny, particularly because of the highly partisan nature of the recent session, Gartlan said.
``I'm not saying that everything was done on a partisan basis,'' he said, ``but there clearly were certain philosophies that had more support.''
Including resolutions, which generally are noncontroversial and allowed to pass, a total of 1,503 measures failed in the 1995 session and 1,307 passed.
In 1994, including resolutions, 598 measures failed and 1,561 measures passed.
In 1991, a year comparable to this year because all 140 seats were up for grabs, 1,145 measures passed and 938 failed.
Besides election-year politics, Cranwell said another factor in the demise of so many bills this session was that the House Courts of Justice Committee decided that the 1994 regular and special parole sessions did considerable work in sentencing and other anti-crime proposals.
He said the committee killed most bills this year that had the potential of increasing costs.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB