Virginia legislators replaced their warlike budget rhetoric for a more conciliatory tone Tuesday and predicted a compromise on the state’s $78 billion spending plan by the end of the week.
Both chambers of the General Assembly voted to extend their session until Thursday in the expectation that a small team of negotiators would produce a single two-year budget by then.
“The prognosis now is we’ve made some substantial progress and it will take one more round to complete this,” Del. Margaret Vanderhye, D-McLean, told The Examiner after being briefed on the progress of the conferees.
Republicans also spoke hopefully of a quick outcome. By Tuesday afternoon, however, House GOP conferees had not cemented an agreement on the Senate’s demand for drug courts and prisoner re-entry funding, according to a House staffer. Also not finalized was how much to tap the state’s “rainy day” fund to help close a $2 billion shortfall through fiscal 2010.
House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Fredericksburg, released a statement that contrasted sharply with the public rancor since the House and Senate introduced their respective budgets.
“While everyone wishes that the budget-writing task could have been accomplished in the regular, 60-day session, I believe that good-faith efforts by both House and Senate conferees over the past several days to overcome important differences will enable lawmakers to finish work shortly,” Howell said.
Seemingly deep schisms over spending priorities persisted until days ago, including the Senate’s and Gov. Tim Kaine’s insistence on expanded pre-kindergarten and the House’s long-term reduction in the state’s share of teacher pay increases. Even how much revenue was available amid the sharp economic downturn was a matter of debate.
Lawmakers and Kaine want to dispense with the budget talks quickly so they can focus on the state’s transportation crisis. The Virginia Supreme Court last month gutted a $1.1 billion transportation funding package approved by the assembly last year, ruling that the regional tax authorities empowered under the bill were unconstitutional.
