ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250009
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
REPUBLICAN Del. Morgan Griffith of Salem has proposed a constitutional amendment to require fair party representation on legislative committees. The proposal won't go very far, not this General Assembly session anyway, and it may smack of cluttering the Virginia Constitution with excessive detail.
Nevertheless, the amendment merits consideration.
For one thing, it's not just a partisan shot. House Democrats are the current committee-stacking offenders, but Republicans are close enough to parity (the Democratic majority is 52-47) to have reasonable prospects of someday soon being in a position to return the favor. An amendment would end the game for both sides.
Moreover, the Virginia General Assembly never has developed a tradition, routine in Congress and the legislatures of many states, of distributing committee seats in proportion to party strength. In the absence of such a tradition, an amendment may be necessary to institutionalize equity in committee assignments.
The power-sharing arrangement in the state Senate this session is remarkable mostly for its novelty, and mainly reflects the leverage a couple of senators can exert when the Democratic majority is a majority only if you count a Democratic lieutenant governor, the Senate's tie-breaker. But until this year, Democrats dominated the important Senate Finance Committee - even though their majority by 1991 had shrunk to only 22-18, and the rules called for partisan proportionality on committees "as nearly as practicable."
In the House, the rules traditionally give the speaker unfettered committee-assignment powers. The unfairness continues - as witnessed at the beginning of the current session with Speaker Tom Moss' peremptory ouster of Minority Leader Vance Wilkins from an important committee. Republicans hold 47 of the 100 House seats, but have just four of 22 seats on Appropriations.
The flap over committee assignments has presumably faded away, as the lawmakers go on to other things. But Griffith should keep plugging his amendments. Committee memberships can have a potent influence on who gets how much in the state budget, and on which laws get enacted and which don't, and should better reflect the will of Virginia's voters.
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB