Now that we are beyond the halfway point of this year’s legislative session, our focus has shifted much more intensely to adjusting the state’s $77-billion biennial budget to address our $3-billion or more revenue shortfall. With massive proposed cuts to education and health care and still no serious solution to transportation funding, we have understood for weeks that the details of the state budget will depend heavily upon how much funding of various types Virginia receives as part of the Federal stimulus package. The Virginia Senate very wisely chose to push off finalizing its version of the budget for a few days so it could account for the Federal stimulus. Unfortunately, the Republican majority in the House chose to push forward the House version of the budget before the Federal stimulus details were complete, which means the entire process was rendered moot once the stimulus package passed.
Setting that small, good-government point aside, the House passed its version of the budget Feb. 12. I voted against it for several reasons. House Republicans tacked on objectionable amendments to enact laws that they have not been able to get through the regular legislative process. For example, they inserted onerous new regulations intended to target and close down abortion clinics, and they cut funding for a variety of reproductive health care services for poor women and men. Worst of all, they transferred $149 million from the state’s Water Quality Improvement Fund to plug the Medicaid hole left by their rejection of Governor Kaine’s proposed 30-cents per pack cigarette tax increase. That money has already been obligated to ongoing projects, such as the Alexandria Sanitation Authority’s wastewater plant upgrades, which are critical to Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. Because of those existing obligations, by the time the budget goes into effect July 1, there will be only $16 million left in the Water Quality Improvement Fund. Taking $149 million out of a $16 million account means House Republicans passed a budget last week to create a $133 million deficit, which violates the Virginia Constitution’s balanced budget requirement.
With the Federal stimulus package now in place and the most up-date-date revenue data and economic forecasts just released, both the House and the Senate are again working feverishly to complete what I hope will be a balanced budget on time for our scheduled adjournment.
Before last week’s budget activity, we wrapped up work on hundreds of bills prior to the Feb. 10 “crossover” date, which is when a bill must pass its chamber of origin or be left for dead. During a marathon 10-hour floor session the day before crossover, we worked through and debated a rapid succession of bills on everything from relatively uncontroversial technical issues to hot-button issues like the death penalty, reproductive rights, voting rights, and so on, which kept things interesting. For example, I was proud to be among just 32 Delegates who voted in favor of a rare and extraordinary “discharge motion” attempting to bring before the full House for proper consideration House Bill 1588, which would require health insurance companies to cover autism therapies. This much-needed bill “failed for lack of a motion” in a House subcommittee, so it never received an up or down vote. While the discharge motion failed, it was an important opportunity to highlight the plight of families going bankrupt paying for treatment for autistic children, and it demonstrated to these families that at least some of us refuse to give them the same silent treatment as the subcommittee.
Unfortunately, even though the economy is the most pressing issue facing our Commonwealth and our country, a number of very serious economic stimulus measures did not make it past crossover because they never received a hearing, essentially being “pocket vetoed” by the Republican majority. Two of my bills that fall into that category are the Middle Class and Small Business Tax Relief Act and the Renewable Energy Job Creation Tax Credit.
Despite these disappointments, I am pleased that a number of my other bills are now moving forward in the Senate, and I continue working with a bipartisan group of legislators to shepherd through the bill to ban smoking in Virginia bars and restaurants. Tobacco giant Philip Morris seems to have pulled out all of the stops to beat back this effort. However, I am hopeful that our proposal will endure and we will ultimately deliver a very good law that will protect 99 percent of restaurant and bar customers and workers from cancer-causing second-hand smoke.
To share your ideas and feedback or request service from my office, please contact me any time at 703-549-3203 or DelDEnglin@house.virginia.gov.
