ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER RICHMOND
It looked like wine producers held a losing hand Friday when a House-Senate committee backed legislation that wineries claimed would raise prices.
But the wine producers had an ace up their sleeve.
They quietly killed the bill Saturday by threatening to evoke the same procedural ruling that two days earlier had derailed parental notification legislation.
That ruling by House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, infuriated abortion foes. But its greater impact could be a long-lasting change in the General Assembly's time-honored way of doing business.
Some lawmakers predicted the ruling would strengthen the committee system, making it more difficult to steer controversial measures such as abortion rights around hostile panels.
"We should legislate through the committee system," said Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach. "It's a tiring and long process, but it works."
Moss overturned a long-standing practice that gave the Senate and House of Delegates considerable discretion in rewriting legislation that originated in the other chamber.
In the past, Moss had said he was bound by tradition to accept Senate changes to House bills, even if he thought the amendments were unrelated to the purpose of the original bill.
Last Thursday, Moss reversed himself by declaring that he had the authority - if not the duty - to invalidate Senate efforts to tack parental notification onto a House bill dealing with juvenile commitments to mental hospitals.
He cited an article in the Virginia Constitution requiring each bill to have only one purpose.
It did not take long for the Moss ruling to resurface.
Earlier in the week, wine wholesalers won a surprise victory over wine producers when the full Senate amended a House bill to give wholesalers exclusive sales territories.
The wine producers objected, saying the measure should get a full airing in committee to determine if it would affect the availability and cost of wine to consumers.
Still, the proposal gained momentum Friday when a House-Senate panel sided with the wine wholesalers.
On Saturday, however, the bill died after Robert J. Grey, a lobbyist for wine producers, noted that it raised the same constitutional questions that led Moss to override the Senate on parental notification.
Supporters decided to withdraw the bill quietly rather than force Moss to make a ruling and perhaps reopen the controversy surrounding his role in the demise of parental notification.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB