THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996 TAG: 9601130119
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
NAVIGATING AMONG the City Council's and the School Board's wish lists, the governor's and the Democratic Party's demands, election promises and personal convictions, state legislators must find a limited number of issues they can support in each General Assembly session.
After 10 months of setting priorities and talking to constituents, city leaders and party officials, Virginia Beach's eight legislators have settled on a few dozen bills they would like to get into law. This year's General Assembly session began Wednesday and lasts for 60 days.
``I don't put in a lot of bills,'' said Del. Robert Tata, R-85th District, who mentioned at least six, ``because everybody puts in too many to begin with.''
Del. Harry R. Purkey, R-82nd District, is submitting at least 11 bills.
``I have this many bills again that I could introduce, but you really prioritize them based on where you feel the needs are at a particular time,'' Purkey said.
Submitting bills is difficult work, the legislators said, involving research and legwork.
``When you present a bill up there,'' Tata said, ``you've got to be semiliterate with what you're talking about.
``If you present an administration bill, that's easy, you get an administrator to explain the bill and answer questions,'' he continued. ``If you're putting in a bill that you or your constituency want, you have to be able to defend your position.''
The hot issues in this year's session will be the state budget, and reform of Virginia's educational and juvenile justice system, the delegates said. Legislators also will get involved in the current crisis in the Virginia Beach school district, by resolving conflicts with the City Council and pushing for greater fiscal control to avoid future deficits.
The delegates are expected to support the City Council's request to require the district to consolidate its accounting, payroll and finance departments with the city's. The school district finished its last fiscal year with a $12.1 million deficit and the council believes that consolidation would head off future financial problems.
Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr., R-83rd, said he still hopes the School Board and the City Council can agree to merge departments without the interference of the General Assembly.
``It'd be much better if they can reach consensus on this,'' said Wardrup, who likely will be the House patron of any consolidation bill. ``My view is that there are some savings that can be accomplished without impairing the ability of the School Board to control their destiny. I think the School Board ought to seize this opportunity for the benefit of the school system and to save some money that could be put in the classrooms.''
Purkey said he also hopes to ensure that the City Council gets regular audits of the district's finances, so it will have earlier warnings of future financial dangers.
``That way, if I was going to get a surprise, it would be a 3-month surprise, not a 1- or 2-year surprise,'' he said. ``The citizens cannot be expected to cough up more and more money to cover inadequate government reporting.''
Because almost all of Virginia Beach's delegates and senators are Republican, they are generally supportive of Gov. George Allen's budget.
Wardrup, one of the five House members who helped develop the budget, said it was particularly difficult to draw up because revenue was lower than expected.
``We tried to develop a budget to address what we think are the premier needs of the commonwealth,'' he said. ``I'm not satisfied with everything in there, but a budget is a plan and it's a compromise document.''
Because of their shared party loyalty and their long-standing efforts to work together, the Virginia Beach delegation is one of the most cohesive in the state legislature, said Robert F. McDonnell, R-84th. Republicans control all but one of the Beach seats.
``I try to think we've got as good or the best delegation up there,'' he said. ``We have dinners together. We yell at each other.''
The Republicans' near-miss at the polls at gaining control over the House and Senate should help the Beach's delegation, he said.
``Virginia Beach is probably, at least from a Republican standpoint, the pride of the state, having picked up (Sen. Edward) Schrock's seat, and (Del.) Thelma Drake's.''
McDonnell predicted that partisanship would not fracture the General Assembly as much this year as it did last, when the impending elections put both parties on edge. The Republicans failed to win control of either house of the legislature, although they gained enough seats to tie up the Senate with a 20-20 split.
The Senate was stalled in the first days of the session, trying to figure out how to divide power, but McDonnell and other Virginia Beach legislators said they thought most of those problems would be smoothed out quickly.
``There will be little moments of payback, as there usually are after an election,'' McDonnell said.
``I'm thinking that the governor has put forth a fairly good olive branch with the budget by reflecting ideas that both the Democrats and the Republicans put forward in the election cycle,'' he continued. ``I think we're off to a pretty good start already.''
school system and to save some money that could be put in the classrooms.''
Purkey said he also hopes to ensure that the City Council gets regular audits of the district's finances, so it will have earlier warnings of future financial dangers.
``That way, if I was going to get a surprise, it would be a three-month surprise, not a one- or two-year surprise,'' he said. ``The citizens cannot be expected to cough up more and more money to cover inadequate government reporting.''
Because almost all of Virginia Beach's delegates and senators are Republican, they are generally supportive of Gov. George Allen's budget.
Wardrup, one of the five House members who helped develop the budget, said it was particularly difficult to draw up because revenue was lower than expected.
``We tried to develop a budget to address what we think are the premier needs of the commonwealth,'' he said. ``I'm not satisfied with everything in there, but a budget is a plan and it's a compromise document.''
Because of their shared party loyalty and their long-standing efforts to work together, the Virginia Beach delegation is one of the most cohesive in the state legislature, said Robert F. McDonnell, R-84th. Republicans control all but one of the Beach seats.
``I try to think we've got as good or the best delegation up there,'' he said. ``We have dinners together. We yell at each other.''
The Republicans' near-miss at the polls at gaining control over the House and Senate should help the Beach's delegation, he said.
``Virginia Beach is probably, at least from a Republican standpoint, the pride of the state, having picked up (Sen. Edward) Schrock's seat, and (Del.) Thelma Drake's.''
McDonnell predicted that partisanship would not fracture the General Assembly as much this year as it did last, when the impending elections put both parties on edge. The Republicans failed to win control of either house of the legislature, although they gained enough seats to tie up the Senate with a 20-20 split.
The Senate was stalled in the first days of the session, trying to figure out how to divide power, but McDonnell and other Virginia Beach legislators said they thought most of those problems would be smoothed out quickly.
``There will be little moments of payback, as there usually are after an election,'' McDonnell said.
``I'm thinking that the governor has put forth a fairly good olive branch with the budget by reflecting ideas that both the Democrats and the Republicans put forward in the election cycle,'' he continued. ``I think we're off to a pretty good start already.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY DELEGATES ISSUES by CNB