RICHMOND
House and Senate budget negotiators shook hands Wednesday on a final deal for a two- year, $77 billion state budget that would go into effect July 1.
The General Assembly is expected to approve the budget this afternoon and gavel its 2008 session to an overdue close. A stalemate in the spending talks caused the Legislature to miss its scheduled adjournment Saturday.
Lawmakers also may take up the contentious issues of transportation and judges today.
Republican delegates from Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia say they will propose new plans to raise taxes in their regions for transportation. Eight Republicans from Hampton Roads are urging a 1-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase. The levy, if imposed by all 12 local governments, would reap about $153.8 million a year for roads. The measure appears to have little immediate chance in the Senate, where Democratic leaders want to defer decisions on transportation and convene a special session next month.
It is unclear whether lawmakers today will try to fill judicial vacancies. If that doesn’t happen, some appointments will be made by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, others by local circuit judges.
The budget compromise on Wednesday resulted after 12 days of haggling between House and Senate negotiators.
Sen. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, said negotiations were complicated by the state’s flat economy, which is expected to leave state government $1 billion shy of anticipated revenues over the next two years. “We were trying to make good policy decisions given the reduced amount to work with, and that made it difficult,” Houck said.
In the end, negotiators agreed to continue funding of drug courts across the state – including programs in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News – an action the House initially opposed. The Senate, in turn, dropped its insistence on money to help soon-to-be-released prisoners prepare for reentry into society. Negotiators compromised on a plan to provide $1.5 million to help law enforcement officials patrol the Internet for child abusers. That funding was favored by the House, which, in turn, dropped its resistance to a $1.5 million appropriation to help crime victims be informed when the felons who hurt them are being released from prison.
Negotiators also have agreed to give teachers a 2 percent raise on July 1, 2009. Local governments are free to supplement that amount. State employees and college faculty members would get a 2 percent raise at the end of this year and next, under the agreement.
The negotiators agreed to allocate $22 million to expand prekindergarten programs for children from low-income families. Kaine, a Democrat, originally sought $46 million for the program, saying it would save the state money in the long run by reducing failure rates in schools. House Republicans opposed the expenditure, saying Virginia should not be building new programs when it faces a $1 billion shortfall .
The negotiators agreed to spend $30 million during the next budget year, which starts July 1, to create 600 community care openings for mentally disabled people. House budget writers say they will seek an additional 200 spots next year.
The agreement also would make $35 million available to state colleges that agree to limit tuition increases to 4 percent during each of the next two school years. Noting that times are tight, negotiators did not direct any funding to museums and cultural programs . Under the agreement, the state would reduce overall support to local governments by $50 million – roughly 5 percent. State agencies would be called on to trim $17 million in spending.
Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com
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4500!!
For 4500.00, she better paint my house when we are done.
Gotta love the
Gotta love the government:Copied from Spike38 blog....
On Tuesday, March 11th the New York State Senate Codes Committee approved legislation (S.66) which will force Internet Service Providers like AOL, Google and MSN to block their customers from accessing lawful Internet poker Web sites and other gaming on the Internet. This Bill can be voted on by the full State Senate as early as Monday, March 17th!
This is a direct assault by the New York State Senate to censure your rights to access the Internet to play poker or similar games in the comfort and security of your own home.
Please call Sen. George D. Maziarz at (518) 455-2024 if you haven't already.
Our politicians are free to bang $4500 hookers but we can't make our own choices on what we do in the privacy of our own homes as adults.
2 percent , wow
wow a whole 2% in 2009 are our childrens teachers worth more than this the cost of living and taxes have gone up 75% in the last 2 years , the cost of gas has doubled , hope they dont break the bank
Clarification
Just as a point of clarification, the budget only funds 14 drug courts in Virginia. There are an additional 12 programs that do not receive state funding. Several of these programs must rely on federal grants to exist. Ironically, drug courts are one of the most heavily researched interventions in the criminal justice system. They work, they save A LOT of money, and they hold offenders accountable for their actions. It will be unfortunate to lose them.
Authorities
We all know how well SPSA was run as an authority! There might be zillions of them but has anyone ever noticed that in general they don't have public interest in mind when making decisions? HRTA just wants to please their business buddies.
HRTA
The HRTA is an authority. There are zillions of them in HR and all over the state. They are unelected and the governing board is usually appointed by the local governing body or bodies. They can't impose taxes (as just confirmed by our SC) but they can and do charge for their services or products - water, trash collection, parking, toll roads, etc. You may not think there is a difference between charging you for the water you use (as provided by the authority) and taxing you on the amount of gas you buy (as provided by a private business), but, legally, there is a big difference.
Jim, if the HRTA was not a
Jim, if the HRTA was not a regional government then what was it? This entity was able to collect taxes by the power of their existence. Unelected and unaccountable. It was a regional government authority composing of twelve government jurisdictions with the ability to use the power and force of government to collect taxes. This was a back door attempt to pass such a regional government without the consent of the governed.
The provision in The Virginia Constitution allows for the creation of a regional government (God forbid). The provision also requires a referendum to create such a government be approved by the voters affected by such a creation.
A fee, surcharge, service charge, and the like that are required by government is still a tax. Just as a nail driving instrument is still a hammer and a railroad malfunction is still a train wreck.
Republicans – Democrats, What’s The Difference?
Republicans want to raise the sales tax to fund the building of roads and Democrats want to provide services for the children of people who shouldn’t have children. What’s wrong with this?
It’s really quite simple. First, if you want to raise money to build roads, then raise the gas tax. That way, people who use the roads and he people who consume the products that are delivered on the roads, pay for the roads.
As far as programs for the children of people who shouldn’t be having children goes, the General Assembly is simply subsidizing irresponsible behavior. Economics lesson 101—if you want more of something, provide incentives and ye shall get more.
Well, we Virginians voted them in, so we Virginians deserve what we get.
An authority is not a regional govt
Reid, I hear what you're saying, but an authority is not a regional govt. If the entity created was a regional govt, then the taxes would have been OK. But it wasn't a regional govt, it was an unelected, special purpose authority. The GA has no legal right to delegate taxing powers to an authority.
Regarding the issue of how certain localities were swept into the authority even though they didn't request it, the court didn't find that unconstitutional - I'm not even sure the issue was raised. Localities are creatures of the state. The GA can tell them what to do or not to do as long as it's not unconstitutional.
Oh, but you forgot to mention
that if the governor signs John Cosgrove's HB1171, we will also be spared the indignity and nuisance of seeing a woman's nipples while she dances in a bar with an ABC license! Don't tell ME our General Assembly hasn't been hard at work!
More law suits to follow; more unconstitutional parts to HB 3202
Jim, so you think forcing local soveriegn governments to be forced to particapte in a non-elected regional government is constitutional?
Hum, does that even pass the smell test?
In Virginia we have a state government, city government, county governments - and if the citizens vote and pass a referendum, we can have a regional government.
When did we vote to accept and create a regional government here in Tidewater? I mean, isn't that vote required by our constitution?
Oh... just because the General Assembly creates a lot of separate "regional authorities", then that isn't "technically" a "regional government". A rose by any other name is still a rose.
HRTA
There is nothing unconstitutional about the HRTA itself. It was the taxing authority that the GA delegated to the HRTA that is unconsitutional. The HRTA never implemented any of the unconstitutional taxes. No harm, no foul I suppose.
They did not abolish the HRTA - disgraceful
So, the General Assembly created an unconstitutional, non-elected regional taxing authority last year - and when informed by the Supreme Court how they failed to keep their oaths of office what did they do? Did they correct their mistake?
Nope.
Instead they passed a $77B budget that funds new entitlement programs like "Pre-K" day care and which raids our state’s emergency Rainey Day Fund and also raids the transportation funding set aside last year – all to pay for their new spending - - and then they quit.
And the unconstitutional and ill-conceived HRTA still exists.
Disgraceful.