ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
Yes, Virginia, there will be a budget.
A stalemate that delayed House and Senate negotiations for almost a week on the $35 billion, 1996-98 budget ended Wednesday with an agreement to include four members from each chamber in the discussions.
The negotiators and their staffs rushed to begin the bargaining that is expected to produce a budget document by Friday.
The delay, which centered on the size of the negotiating team, means that lawmakers probably will have 24 hours or less to review final recommendations before voting on issues ranging from teachers' salaries to economic development incentives to the price for allowing Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield to become a for-profit company.
Despite the importance of the remaining controversies, several longtime budget analysts said the gap between already-approved House and Senate versions of the budget is less than in many previous years. That should compensate in part for the short turnaround time, they said.
"It would be better to have more days," said House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst County. "But a week - or even a month - is not enough time to do it."
The settlement of the controversy came when Senate Finance Committee co-chairman Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk, backed away from his insistence on five Senate conferees.
Based on a power-sharing agreement when the Senate organized in January, Walker had expected to add one new negotiator to the team, while committee co-chairman John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, would name another. Three Senate negotiators were returning.
The snafu arose when House Speaker Thomas Moss refused to expand the number of House negotiators from four to five.
Chichester, who planned to name Democratic Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount to the powerful committee as payback for aiding Republicans earlier in the session, agreed to limit the number to four.
Walker appointed Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, to the fourth position.
The budget delay postponed a clash in the Senate over issues related to abortion. The chamber adjourned before taking up a bill dealing with "feticide" to give the budget negotiators time to meet.
A committee ruling on a bill requiring parental notification when minors have abortions also was delayed.
Debate over the issues is expected to be tense, and could begin today.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB