ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997 TAG: 9704030038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: LAURA LAFAY AND WARREN FISKE THE ROANOKE TIMES
Governor promises to veto changes to welfare reform, pushes campaign reforms through.
Succumbing to pressure from Gov. George Allen, the General Assembly on Wednesday agreed to ethics reforms that will bar state lawmakers from raising political money when the legislature is in session.
Meeting in a one-day session to consider 22 vetoes and 155 amendments by Allen, legislators also gave in to the Republican governor's demand to tighten disclosure of lobbying activities. Special interest groups must now report all gifts and expenditures of $50 or more to legislators. The current threshold is $200.
Despite the election-year fever seizing the Capitol, it was a day of generally little rancor in which the outgoing Allen was upheld on all but a handful of bills.
"You did a good job, whether you liked it or not," a beaming Allen told the delegation of lawmakers who came to his office at about 8 p.m. to report that the session had ended.
Allen also prevailed in defeating gun restrictions and an effort to delay implementation of new standardized tests for public school students. He also amended a hate-crime bill to include assaults on police officers and firefighters.
The House of Delegates, however, used a parliamentary maneuver to narrowly ease work requirements for full-time students receiving welfare benefits. Allen had vetoed a budget item allowing such recipients to perform eight hours of community service a week if they could not find an eight-hour-per-week job.
Allen, who denounced the measure as "backsliding" on the state's welfare reform program, promised to veto it again as soon as it lands on his desk.
The ethics and disclosure reforms come at a time when Virginia's barely regulated campaign finance and reporting laws have been widely criticized as among the weakest in the nation.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers severely watered down Allen's efforts to bar fund raising when they were in session. Arguing that such a law would put give their political opponents an advantage, lawmakers made the ban apply only to incumbents who were unopposed for re-election.
Faced with election-year pressures to recapitulate, however, they did so Wednesday with little protest
Debate over welfare reform was the most contentious issue of the day, with some House Republicans defecting to the other side over whether the substitution of eight hours of work for eight hours of community service constituted backsliding on welfare reform.
"We're not changing anything," insisted Richmond Republican Del. Anne "Panny" Rhodes of the amendment.
"All we're doing is saying, `If you can't find a job for eight hours, we can give you other work.'''
"As an amendment, it will come back to my desk; and as an amendment, I will veto it. And if they don't like it, they can sue me," Allen said.
Allen's final triumph of the session came when both bodies upheld his amendments to concealed-weapon bills. One such bill, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Gartlan, D-Fairfax County, required statewide fingerprinting of all those applying for concealed-weapon permits. Allen's amendment erases the requirement and allows localities to make their own laws on the issue.
Another gun bill, also sponsored by Gartlan, sought to ban guns from recreation centers and other public areas in Fairfax County. Allen's amendment gave rise to impassioned speeches on the Senate floor.
"There are very few places a weapon is needed in a teen center," said Fairfax Republican Sen. Jane Woods. "These aren't shooting ranges. ... These are teen and community centers where our youngsters are supposed to be able to go to be safe."
Asked to characterize the day-long session, Norfolk Democrat Del. William Robinson said, "Stay home, because everyone's going to have a gun.
"Basically a few tweaks here and there. A little skirmish with the governor over the budget amendments. Nothing of great moment. We had some good gun legislation at the end of the regular session, but now we've got an irrational patchwork of regulations, and I don't think that's good."
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB