THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702230241
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 126 lines
The 1997 General Assembly will be remembered for a law restricting teen-age abortions, a partisan stalemate on judicial appointments and a frenetic pace that tested the limits of Virginia's venerable ``citizen'' legislature.
The 46-day ordeal also gave candidates for governor and two other statewide offices a chance to rehearse their lines for the fall election campaigns.
Despite a bare-knuckled brawl over a Supreme Court appointee, the looming elections produced few discordant notes. Democrats and Republicans harmonized on making college tuition affordable, cleaning the Chesapeake Bay and putting more cops on the beat.
In their rush to the middle of the political road, the lawmakers approved several measures that - if signed into law by Gov. George F. Allen - will touch the everyday lives of Virginians.
First-graders who have trouble reading will get special tutoring.
The poor will get additional legal representation in civil matters.
Children ages 4 to 16 will have to buckle up when riding in the back seat.
Teens will need to notify a parent before getting a tattoo.
If Virginia's 1997 lawmaking session is remembered for anything, it will be the passage of a law barring minors from getting an abortion unless they notify a parent.
Supporters say the law will ensure parents are involved in their daughters' lives.
Opponents counter it will only make life harder for girls by forcing them to travel out of state for abortions or to try to induce their own. Opponents also said it might cause the girls to wait until the second trimester when the procedure is more complicated.
The landmark abortion legislation stood in sharp relief to hundreds of innocuous bills that clogged committee dockets. Veteran lobbyists bemoaned the ``themeless and seamless'' session.
``Blah,'' said Petersburg Democrat Del. Jay DeBoer. ``B-L-A-H. For the most part, it's been odds and ends.''
The Assembly packs its workload into one of the nation's shortest legislative sessions. By tradition, it convenes for 46 days in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even ones.
Historically, the short sessions have been used to polish the biennial budget and consider matters that have carried over from the previous years.
In recent years, however, they have turned into full-throttle affairs with a pace so furious that lawmakers sometimes don't understand their votes.
Last week, chagrined Senate Finance Committee members learned they had denied $50,000 in relief to a Culpeper man who spent 15 months in prison for a crime he did not commit.
``I would never have voted against that,'' said Loudoun Sen. Charles L. Waddell, who was recorded as doing just that.
Something has to give by 1999, some lawmakers say. The options include limiting the number of bills or extending the session to 60 days. But others warn that giving the Assembly more time would be another step away from the state's tradition of a ``citizen'' legislature.
The 1997 session, considered a snoozer by many, sprung a few surprises.
After two decades of debate, the Assembly semi-retired the official state song, ``Carry Me Back to Old Virginia.'' Critics long have taken offense at lyrics - penned by a black minstrel in the 19th century - in which ``darkeys'' pine for the days of ``ole massa.''
``Carry Me Back'' will remain on the books as state song ``emeritus.''
In another unexpected development, a powerful corporate interest accustomed to getting its way in the legislature lost a high-stakes turf battle.
Automobile dealers - among the Assembly's most generous campaign contributors - failed in their bid to eliminate competition from ``tent sales'' often sponsored by credit unions.
Ethics also were a matter of debate.
The Assembly required lobbyists to ``name names'' in their disclosure of entertainment expenses and legislators to report all gifts totaling $100, down from the current threshold of $200.
The 1997 Assembly also was notable for the way Republicans continued to test the limits of their parity with Democrats in the Senate.
Denied influence for most of the 20th century, GOP senators grabbed every chance to use their veto power. They even found a parliamentary tactic that stripped Democratic Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer of his tie-breaking prowess on matters requiring 21 votes. During split votes, one Republican senator was always be mysteriously absent, resulting in a 20-19 tally that fell one vote short of approval.
The consummate flexing of GOP muscle came when the legislature tried to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Republicans lacked the votes to get their candidate on the bench, but they had all the votes needed to keep the Democrats' nominee off.
That impasse left the General Assembly unable to select anyone. The Republicans got the last laugh, however, because now Gov. George F. Allen - a Republican - makes the selection.
The November elections - with statewide offices and the 100-member House of Delegates on the ballots - were never far from the minds of legislators.
There was plenty of election-year posturing. Democrats rammed through legislation stripping away authority of Allen's conservative State Board of Education and pre-empting an effort to weaken day care regulations.
Republicans - under fire for refusing $8.3 million in federal Goals 2000 money - turned the tables on Democrats for shunning potential federal funds for semi-private charter schools.
But Republicans and Democrats avoided the open warfare of 1995, when they tried to blow minor policy differences into ideological divides.
Politics this year drove the two sides together. Beyer shored up his tough-on-crime credentials by successfully pushing for state money to match federal funds for 1,000 new police officers. Republican Attorney General James S. Gilmore - and House Republicans - polished their environmental resumes by backing a $15 million down payment on the Bay cleanup.
In the end, all claimed victory and all took credit.
``Basically every single initiative put forth by this administration has come to fruition,'' Allen declared at a news conference Saturday night.
Democratic House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., of Norfolk, was equally effusive.
``We hit a home run,'' he said. ``Generations of Virginians in every corner of the state will benefit from these practical measures. And I am proud that we enacted them.''
On social issues, however, differences between the parties remain stark. In the Senate, all 20 Democrats joined with one Republican to narrowly defeat efforts to insert a parental rights amendment in the state constitution.
Most Republicans argued that the amendment was a simple affirmation that mothers and fathers - not the state - have the greatest right to direct the upbringing of their children. Democrats maintained that the seemingly-innocuous resolution would open schools to a flood of lawsuits from disgruntled parents.
Social conservatives have vowed to seek revenge in this fall's elections. MEMO: Staff writers Warren Fiske, Laura LaFay and Robert Little
contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997 PARENTAL NOTIFICATION BILL
ABORTION WRAPUP