THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602180068
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE AND DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
Call it bill piracy or legislative larceny.
Either way, Chesapeake Del. J. Randy Forbes knows what it feels like to have Democrats who control the House of Delegates purloin one of his ideas.
For five years, Forbes has pushed to require the state Tax Department to establish guidelines in disputes with taxpayers. But his ``Taxpayer Bill of Rights'' went nowhere fast.
Last year, some Democrats warmed to the idea. Then-Del. Howard E. Copeland co-patroned the bill with Forbes. But the Senate Democrats refused to allow Forbes to take credit for the idea in an election year.
This year, Democrats have adopted the Taxpayer Bill of Rights idea as their own. Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. made it part of his legislative agenda.
Forbes again introduced his bill this year, only to have the Democrats kill it in favor of an identical bill sponsored by Del. John H. Tate Jr., a freshman Democrat from Marion.
Forbes set the record straight last week before the House unanimously approved Tate's bill.
``I rise to support this measure,'' Forbes said, ``because . . . I wrote it.''
Del. Frank W. Wagner's drug-testing bill was killed last week by a Senate committee that said schools should not be burdened with screening students for drugs.
With the bill dead, will Wagner start testing his oldest child, age 13, anyway?
Not exactly. ``We don't want to drag my child down to a clinic. We all know what it's like to wait around a doctor's office,'' Wagner, a Virginia Beach Republican, said.
So, until the FDA approves a home testing kit, Wagner will continue to attempt to push the responsibility onto schools.
Which is exactly why the General Assembly won't approve it.
As a former prep football coach, Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, loves sports, but he is no fan of the push to lure an NHL or NBA franchise to South Hampton Roads.
``It's not something we need,'' Tata said. ``I'm not for underwriting some owner to come in here for a few years and leave us with a white elephant.''
Tata was one of four delegates who voted against legislation setting up a Hampton Roads authority that could sell bonds to build a hockey/basketball arena. Meanwhile, Norfolk and Virginia Beach governments are considering hiring a consultant to help in luring a team to the area.
Tata said he objects to having taxpayers subsidize an arena in an era when teams hopscotch from one city to another looking for the best deal.
``Citizens are being conned,'' he said.
Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, lost another battle Friday in his perennial effort to pass a parental notification bill for minors who seek abortions.
The roadblock to the bill, which would require doctors to notify parents of minors who want abortions, has historically been the Senate's Education and Health Committee. The panel already killed the idea once this year.
So when the House passed one of the strictest versions of the bill in years last week, Earley wanted to bypass the committee. The Senate's Courts of Justice Committee would clearly be friendlier to the bill. And besides, Earley argued, the bill amends the criminal code - an area the courts committee always oversees.
``I don't know of any other bill that deals with creating a new crime and that is routinely referred to the Education and Health Committee,'' said Earley.
The Senate Rules Committee, which considers the Senate's policy matters, voted 8-7 to keep the bill where it is. The committee is weighted with more Democrats than Republicans, but members denied their vote was political.
``This is simply how the system works,'' said Sen. Richard J. Holland, D-Isle of Wight, chairman of the Rules Committee. Holland supports parental notification, but voted to leave the bill where it is.
``We'd be here day and night if we moved everything around trying to get it passed.''
The adage goes: Freshmen should be seen, not heard.
But Del. Thelma Drake - who made an emotional speech last week in favor of parental notification - showed that new lawmakers occasionally can have an impact.
The Norfolk Republican pleaded with lawmakers to require young women seeking abortions to notify their parents, without giving them the loophole of telling a grandparent or adult sibling.
Addressing the men who dominate the House of Delegates, Drake asked them to consider the implications of a law that ``excludes you and your wife'' in a daughter's decision.
The House - in a reversal from last year - responded by voting 55-43 to strip the grandparent/sibling provision.
Later, abortion-rights advocates singled out Drake's speech as a turning point in the debate.
Comments by Norfolk lawmakers just before the vote on riverboat casinos on the House floor last week made it clear that the gambling measure was doomed from the start.
``We might as well get this thing over with,'' House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. announced, sounding anything but optimistic.
During the debate, Norfolk Del. William P. Robinson Jr. tried to appease opponents by making a small compromise, but he was shouted down by riverboat supporters.
``My God,'' House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell shouted to Robinson, ``you can't even surrender and win!''
It's not uncommon for senators to walk onto the Senate floor intent on killing a specific bill, but Virginia Beach Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle lashed out at an unlikely target Tuesday: His own bill.
The measure simply cleared the way for Virginia Beach to take over part of Camp Pendleton, now owned by the state. There have been disagreements about the property's value, and Stolle hoped to clear it up.
But Southside lawmakers in the House of Delegates are still reeling about the city's plans to siphon water out of Lake Gaston. And they saw Stolle's bill as a good vehicle to force the issue, with amendments aimed at killing the pipeline project.
Not wanting to give them the chance, Stolle withdrew his bill Tuesday - barely in time.
In all the excitement surrounding the session's ``crossover'' deadline, Stolle's bill passed the Senate unanimously. And he didn't notice. He had the vote reconsidered, then withdrew the bill from consideration.
``Sometimes, the Senate actually moves too fast,'' he said.
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