ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 12, 1996 TAG: 9603120090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITERS
DESPITE SOME POWER GLITCHES, lawmakers accomplished much that will touch the lives of Virginians.
The 1996 General Assembly finally left town Monday, ending a 62-day experiment in power-sharing that reached both new heights of cooperation and depths of disarray.
Senate Republicans won a voice in the appointment of state judges for the first time in a century. But the new system created gridlock that left the Assembly unable to fill six of 14 judicial vacancies.
Senate Democrats and Republicans divided leadership positions, with the two parties sharing control of the powerful Finance Committee. But the arrangement fostered indecisiveness that forced the Assembly to miss its planned adjournment by two days.
Even juvenile justice "reform" - the bipartisan prize of the session - could not be completed until the final hour because of distrust generated by the contentious budget negotiations.
State lawmakers, who take pride in the efficiency of their annual winter encounters, concede they were thrown off stride by new dynamics in the Senate, where a 20-20 deadlock forced reluctant Democrats to share power with Republicans.
"It was the same, but it was different," explained House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton. "It's like getting a new car. You're still driving, but it takes a while to get used to the nuances."
Despite some glitches along the way, the Assembly accomplished much that will touch the lives of Virginians:
Disadvantaged students will get more individual attention from their teachers. In-state students at state colleges will have their tuitions frozen for two years. Kids charged with murder and other violent crimes more likely will be tried as adults. Children who commit minor infractions will have a better chance to get into a rehabilitation program.
One bill already signed into law can save residents a trip to the courthouse by allowing them to register to vote when getting a driver's license or applying for unemployment benefits.
"I think y'all done good work for the people of Virginia," Gov. George Allen said Monday afternoon to a group of lawmakers sent to inform him of their intent to adjourn.
The final gavel fell at 5:40 p.m.
One thing did not change this year: Lawmakers again took a pro-business attitude.
Virginia Power Co. won the right to seek rate structures divorced from the traditional measure of costs. Motorola will get up to $60 million in cash incentives to build a computer chip plant near Richmond. The state's coal companies sealed a tax rebate worth up to $188 million over 10 years.
Lawmakers blessed Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield's for-profit application pending before the State Corporation Commission. Trigon, seeking to become a for-profit stock company, had offered $175 million to help legislators make good on campaign promises for higher education and other programs.
In a win for consumers, health maintenance organizations will be required to let women visit their gynecologists without a referral from "gatekeeper" physicians. The bill will affect about 400,000 women.
The tone of the session was free of last year's shrill election-year rhetoric and in-your-face confrontations between Allen and Democrats.
The subdued gathering suited battle-weary lawmakers, even though the civility dampened business at Chickens, the Capitol snack bar.
Proprietor Linda Bannister bemoaned the absence of hot issues that drew interest groups by the busloads.
"The more they fight, the better I do," she said.
Cooperation was the buzzword of the session because of last fall's elections that left the Senate with 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats.
Democrats figured they could hold onto their power with the tie-breaking power of Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer. But the defection of Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Franklin County, forced the Democrats to share power with their GOP counterparts.
As far as most senators were concerned, the deal worked well. Both parties were mostly respectful of one another; rarely did a partisan debate erupt.
In the session's final days, Democrats realized their national convention might be too late to get Bill Clinton on the state ballot in November. A Republican came to their rescue by introducing a bill to correct the oversight.
Rather than battle one another, Senators found their adversaries across the Capitol in the House of Delegates, where Democrats hold sway.
From the get-go, House Democrats made it clear they had no intention of dividing spoils with Republicans.
Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, stripped Republicans of two seats on money panels and booted two strident GOP lawmakers off key committees. Democrats vowed to block the election of all judges to prevent a few Republicans from slipping onto the bench.
House Democrats said they doubted Republicans would have shared power if they had won an outright majority in either chamber.
"The truth of the matter is, we aren't clinging to power," Cranwell said. "The public chose to keep us in the position of majority, and we are going to exercise our power in the most responsible way we know how."
"I do not believe power can be shared. You either have power or you don't," declared Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk.
The House-Senate clash gummed up the appointment of judges. A few Republicans were appointed, most notably former state senator Joseph Canada of Virginia Beach. But the Assembly left six judicial vacancies unfilled - a remarkably high number.
The impasse was caused in part by House Democrats' refusal to consider nominees put forward by Senate Republicans. In some cases, the Senate rules were to blame because bringing Republicans into the process made consensus more difficult.
On budget matters, the new Senate rules of engagement caused a week-long impasse - not over spending questions, but over who would sit at the table in final negotiations.
That left negotiators only 72 hours to meet a Saturday deadline on the $35 million state budget. The task proved impossible, forcing lawmakers to extend the session by two days.
Allen, whose scaled-back agenda escaped the pounding he took in 1995, didn't seem to mind the overtime.
"What a difference a year makes," Allen said in his farewell address. "Although this has been one of the longest regular sessions of the Virginia General Assembly on record, it certainly has seemed much shorter than last year's."
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Chairman of the House Appropriations committee, Del.by CNBEarl Dickinson, D-Louisa, (left) watches as co-chairmen of the
Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk, and John
Chichester, R-Stafford, sign a budget agreement. color. Graphic:
Charts by staff. 1. Virginia's budget. 2. State funding for local
projects. KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996