THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170088
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Staff writer David Poole and The Associated Press contributed
to this report.
LENGTH: 159 lines
RICHMOND - Democrats who took Gov. George F. Allen to task for refusing federal Goals 2000 education money rejected legislation Sunday intended to make Virginia eligible for federal charter schools grants.
On an 8-7 party-line vote, the Senate Education and Health Committee killed the Republican governor's bill authorizing local school boards to create up to two of the semi-independent schools. The panel then appointed a subcommittee to study the issue for a year.
President Clinton has proposed $100 million in federal funding for the schools, which are freed of some regulations in exchange for high student performance. Allen claimed Virginia could get up to $30 million over three years.
Some Democrats said Allen's bill, submitted Friday, was more about politics than education.
``This is an 11th-hour political maneuver to save face after the governor's political embarrassment over Goals 2000,'' said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania.
Allen announced last month that his concerns over possible federal meddling in state education matters had been eliminated, and that he would apply for the grant.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who was in town Saturday to speak at the state Democratic Party's annual dinner, said Virginia probably could qualify for only about half as much of the charter schools funding as the Allen administration estimated.
Allen's bill said charter schools cannot be religious schools, but several committee members said they were concerned that there was no restriction on what type of group could apply for a charter.
Organizations representing public school superintendents and school boards opposed the bill. But State Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro emphasized that the legislation would not require school boards to create charter schools. ``It's a local choice, and that's the way it should be,'' she said.
Allen's bill was nearly identical to one sponsored by Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, that was killed by a House of Delegates committee earlier in the session. Hamilton later tried to revive the proposal as a budget amendment but was voted down.
``I was surprised by the partisan nature'' of the committee vote, Hamilton said. ``I wouldn't have expected that going in.''
ALSO SUNDAY
POT LAW STAYS: A 1979 Virginia law allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for cancer or glaucoma patients will stay on the books.
The Senate Education and Health Committee voted 9-6 to kill a bill repealing the law. That bill had passed the House of Delegates (86-13 vote) and the governor said he'd sign it. The committee wants a subcommittee study.
A key speaker Sunday was Dr. William Regelson of the Medical College of Virginia. He has researched marijuana's effect on cancer patients and says the drug helps alleviate nausea in some patients. It also can stimulate weight gain, he said. He said marijuana has been demonized by ``politicians looking for votes.''
Del. Jay Katzen, R-Fairfax, said Regelson's views are not shared by most of the medical community. He said marijuana has no benefits that cannot be gained from legal drugs.
Virginia's law was largely forgotten until California and Arizona passed similar measures. The Virginia Department of Health Professions has said there is no record of any Virginia doctor prescribing marijuana since the law was approved.
ONE PARENTAL NOTICE BILL DIES: A parental notification abortion bill met its expected demise Sunday in a Senate committee that has killed similar legislation several times in the past.
With little debate, the Education and Health Committee voted 9-6 to kill a bill requiring that a parent, grandparent or adult sibling be notified when an unmarried minor seeks an abortion.
Despite the committee's action, a parental notification bill remains alive. A bill that came through another Senate committee and was passed by the full Senate is pending in a House committee.
The key question is whether the House will approve the Senate version, which allows only a parent to be notified, or amend it to allow a grandparent or adult sibling to receive the notice.
The governor has said he wants a ``true parental notification'' bill and would veto any proposal to allow another adult relative to be notified. He vetoed a notification bill for that reason in 1994.
The House Courts of Justice Committee must act on the bill today.
A DISCUSSION ON GENERICS: After a discussion on anti-coagulants and bio-equivalent drugs, Senate Education and Health Chairman Warren E. Barry had the confused look Sunday night of an English major who had wandered into a medical seminar.
``We're getting into an area in which maybe some of you have expertise, but that eludes me,'' Barry said.
A narrow majority agreed that health care experts - not legislators - should have the final say in a bill that pits brand-name drug manufacturers against makers of generic drugs.
Before approving the bill, the committee voted 8-6 for an amendment that defers the matter to one of two state boards that oversee prescription drugs.
``The fact is we should rely on the professionals,'' said Lynchburg Sen. Steve Newman.
The bill would require pharmacists to double-check with physicians before substituting versions of six ``narrow index'' drugs that require extremely precise dosages.
Drug companies - led by DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals - said the bill is a matter of patient safety.
Opponents say the bill is an anti-competitive measure aimed at creating obstacles to generic versions of certain drugs.
EDUCATION ACTIONS: In two 8-7 party-line votes, the committee endorsed bills to reshape the State Council of Higher Education and to delay for a year new public school accreditation standards being developed by the State Board of Education.
Del. Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, proposed removing the current higher education board members and replacing them with six members appointed by the governor and five by the legislature. All board members are now appointed by the governor.
Diamonstein said the legislature is not getting the kind of ``independent advice'' it needs from the current board to make decisions about the state's colleges.
The accreditation delay was sought by Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Fairfax, who said school administrators and school boards fear they will not have time to prepare for sweeping changes they expect the Board of Education to announce this month.
Committee members agreed with Plum but rejected Fairfax Republican Del. James F. Dillard's proposal to give the General Assembly the final say on accreditation standards, which cover such items as graduation requirements and the ratio of counselors to students.
``This is meddlesome at its worst degree,'' Houck said before the committee killed the measure.
ON GOALS 2000 MONEY: The committee also voted 11-4 to send to the Senate floor a bill allowing local school boards to apply directly for Goals 2000 money if Allen and the state education board do not.
``If you can't accept the word of the governor, there's something very, very wrong,'' Sgro said. ``This sets a bad precedent.''
WHAT'S NEXT
This is the last week of the 46-day 1997 General Assembly session.
Today's floor sessions are scheduled to start at noon.
Significant issues remain to be resolved, including a parental notification abortion bill, a proposed ban on assisted suicide and filling a Virginia Supreme Court vacancy.
Virginia taxpayers will learn Wednesday how the General Assembly is likely to spend the additional $300 million-plus they provided to run state government in the coming year.
A panel of eight senior lawmakers faces a deadline of midnight Tuesday to reach a compromise on amendments to the two-year, $35 billion state budget.
Gov. George Allen proposed about $226 million in new spending in the final year of the state budget. He wanted to leave a surplus of about $21 million. But the General Assembly's money committees managed to find about $65 million in additional cash. They want to spend all but about $3.7 million.
While the amount of money found and proposed to be spent is similar in the House and Senate, there are significant differences in how it would be spent. For example, the two sides differ on the amount of raises for state employees, teachers and college faculty and on whether to go along with Allen's proposal to spend $600,000 on liability insurance for teachers.
The rest of the week will be dominated by long floor sessions and meetings of conference committees - groups of three legislators from each side appointed to work out compromises on conflicting House and Senate versions of bills.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997 PROPOSED BILLS