State lawmakers' budget talks will continue

RICHMOND

Amid doses of coffee, candy and churlishness, a group of 12 senior lawmakers made little progress Tuesday negotiating a final version of the state budget that will cut $2.7 billion in spending.

The talks will determine whether the state will release non violent prisoners from jail early, whether the enrollment of out-of-state students in Virginia universities should be capped, and how to fund aid for the mentally disabled.

The negotiators - six from the Senate and six from the House - missed an informal midnight deadline for striking an agreement. Included in the group are two Hampton Roads legislators: Dels. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News, and Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth.

Most of the members remained confident they could reach accord in time for the General Assembly's scheduled adjournment Saturday.

"Of course, anything can jinx it," said Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Prince William County, the senate's chief budget writer.

The yearly exercise, called the budget conference committee, is designed to settle differences between competing budget plans approved by the House and Senate. Over the last 10 years they've been raucous affairs, marked by occasional cursing and disagreements between leaders of each chamber and - as often as not - impasse and delayed adjournment by the legislature.

So far, the talks have been civil. Absent are proposals for major tax hikes or cuts that inflame passions. The challenge has been paring spending in the recession-wracked, $77 billion two-year budget. The House and Senate largely agree to reductions proposed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in December.

A $787 billion national stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this month will spare the state from making $1 billion in additional cuts, but it has complicated early negotiations because the House and Senate had different understandings of federal rules for use of the money.

The House, for example, wanted to set aside $487 million to exactly fill in Kaine's proposed cuts to public schools and colleges. The Senate originally budgeted $682 million of the stimulus to schools and colleges but fell back to House position Monday.

Because the stimulus money lasts only last two years, House negotiators insist programs not be started or expanded with the windfall. They object to a Senate proposal to earmark $1.5 million to broaden the material science doctorate program at Norfolk State University.

The House, with all 100 of its seats up for election this fall, wants to cap future acceptance of out-of-state students and Virginia universities to 30 percent of the class. The Senate, which does not face election until 2011, opposes the restriction.

"You've got presidents and boards of visitors at the colleges and we ought to let them do their jobs," Colgan said.

There is strong disagreement in public safety. The Senate wants to let some non violent felons out of prison 90 days before their sentences expire to save $5 million and expand the use of electronic monitoring and house arrest. House negotiators oppose such an early-release program.

Here are some other areas of disagreement.

- The House would provide government subsidies to put 400 Virginians in community care facilities; the Senate would accommodate 200 patients.

- The House wants the state Board of Health to develop a program for licensing, inspection and regulation of surgical clinics that perform more than 25 abortions a year. Senate negotiators oppose the measure.

- The House wants 10 percent funding cuts for four-year colleges and 6.7 percent reductions for two-year schools. The Senate is seeking 15 percent cuts for four-year colleges and 10 percent for two-year schools.

- House negotiators want to set a formula that would regulate the number of people that school systems could hire for support staff jobs such as clerks, janitors and curriculum specialists. The Senate is resistant to the idea.

- The House wants to strip all but $200,000 from a planned $3.5 million appropriation for public television and radio. The Senate envisions no cut.

- The House would appropriate between 5 and 10 percent more than the Senate to run local constitutional office s.

- The House would provide $3 million more to promote tourism than the Senate.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com