Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 6, 1995 TAG: 9504060095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE AND DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND NOTE: ABOVE LENGTH: Long
House Democrats slipped out of Gov. George Allen's election-year snare Wednesday, engineering an unprecedented constitutional maneuver to avoid a showdown over giving lottery profits to local governments.
"It was a day of action that cannot be described as always aesthetically pleasing," said Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach. "But I think the taxpayers got a bargain."
Allen also vowed to veto two high-profile bills after the Assembly rejected his proposed amendments: one designed to guarantee access to abortion clinics and another making it easier for Virginians to register to vote.
The annual veto session of the General Assembly had been billed as a faceoff in which Allen would dare Democratic lawmakers to vote against spending cuts totaling $15 million to pay for the first installment of his lottery plan.
But Democrats in the House of Delegates invoked a new provision of the state constitution that enabled them to send the budget to committee, avoiding the floor vote that Allen had sought.
In committee, Democrats turned the tables on Allen. They proposed accepting some of the spending cuts, but rejected the notion of returning lottery profits to localities. Instead, they proposed using that money to pay for an $11 million juvenile correctional facility in Chesterfield County that Allen had planned to finance with debt.
It's the same pay-as-you-go argument that Democrats used earlier this year to justify the defeat of Allen's ambitious proposal to cut taxes and borrow money for prisons at the same time.
"What we did reflects the conservative philosophy that you pay for these prisons as you go if you have the cash to do it," said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville.
Late Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee adopted the Democratic budget plan in a unanimous, bipartisan vote. It remained unclear whether Republican lawmakers would continue to press the lottery plan when the budget comes up for votes today in the House and Senate.
"We're encouraged that there is funding for the juvenile facility," Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said. "On the other hand, I think it's disappointing that at this point they appear to be turning their back on returning lottery money to localities for education, law enforcement and tax relief at the local level."
House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins Jr. of Amherst called the Democrats' budget revisions "a way for them to save face" without considering the merits of Allen's lottery plan.
Win or lose, Allen had hoped to put the Democrats on record on the lottery proposal and spending cuts with an eye toward November elections in which all 140 seats of the legislature will be on the ballot.
House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, played his usual role of foil to the governor with a novel constitutional maneuver. Citing a provision that took effect this year, Cranwell moved that the House consider Allen's 58 budget amendments in a bloc instead of individually, as the governor intended. Once that tactic was approved on a largely party-line vote, House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, ruled that the new constitutional amendment allowed the budget to be sent back to committee.
The House Appropriations Committee went along with some of Allen's more popular spending cuts - selling the state yacht, cutting the legislature's own budget. Then the committee tried to top Allen by proposing the sale of the executive helicopter and reducing the governor's budget.
The committee's proposal also upheld Allen's desire to restore $1.7 million to the state police, which will finance a class of 75 new troopers.
Also Wednesday, Stroupe said the governor plans to veto a bill that would create stiffer penalties for protesters who repeatedly block access to abortion clinics. Allen wanted the new law to apply only in cases of violence or threats of violence, and he wanted it to apply to all public places, not just health clinics. But the House of Delegates quashed his proposals, with a 51-48 majority insisting that the bill addressed a specific need.
"There is no crisis at Kmart; there is no problem at 7-Eleven. I think this bill is needed for the health and safety of the women of this commonwealth," said bill sponsor Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke.
The governor also plans to veto the state's ``motor voter'' bill, Stroupe said, because the Senate killed a proposal to delay the plan's implementation.
Senators sided with Allen in his changes to a bill designed to make it easier to get concealed weapons permits. On a 21-19 vote, the Senate removed a clause that would have prohibited carrying concealed handguns anywhere alcohol is served.
The handgun bill now goes to the House.
In a victory for Allen, bills were killed that would have added carpal tunnel syndrome to ailments covered by state worker's compensation and would have required children to wear seat belts when riding in the back of pickup trucks.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
Memo: NOTE: AP version of this story ran in State edition.