Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine on Thursday authorized loans to state agencies to reimburse local governments for programs such as special education and child foster care in case the state’s General Assembly runs into problems passing a budget bill that allocates the last of the 2006 budget.
The state fiscal year for 2006 ends June 30. On Wednesday, the Virginia House of Delegates passed the legislation, called the “caboose bill” because it comes at the end of the year, and the Senate is expected to pass it today.
If there is “any hiccup or snag that delays that in getting it to the governor,” the loanswill cover any budgetary discrepancies, said Kevin Hall, a Kaine spokesman.
“It was something we should have done two months ago, but we couldn’t get the Senate to agree to get it done,” said House Speaker William Howell, R-Fredericksburg, who blamed the Senate for tying up the bill within the two-year budget impasse.
The Senate was concentrating on the two-year budget and transportation package and ended up “delaying it for no real reason,” said Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas.
While lawmakers are confident the state’s $74 billion biennial budget will be passed before fiscal 2007 begins July 1, some agencies are worried.
If the budget is not passed, government will continue to run based on the previous year’s funding stream, said Del. Vince Callahan, R-McLean.
“We have the legal authority to continue to provide services, such as public safety, public education and public health,” Hall said.
Dana Schrad, Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police executive director, said law enforcement agencies are still waiting to hear not only about operational funds but, more importantly, an improved retirement package for all officers, from locality police to state game wardens.
