Virginia lawmakers return to Richmond Wednesday faced with trimming billions from the state’s already beleaguered budget without dismantling education, public safety, health care and other services.
The 2010 session begins just days before Virginia inaugurates its new governor — Republican Bob McDonnell — who takes office on Saturday. McDonnell, the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-majority Senate are confronted with reaching a compromise on a $4.2 billion shortfall through mid-2012. With proposed tax increases considered dead on arrival, legislators will need to bring their spending blueprint into balance solely through cuts.
Kaine and the General Assembly have already lopped $7 billion in state spending since 2008, but this round could be the ugliest so far. All the easy reductions have been made, said Del. Bob Brink, D-Arlington, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
On top of that, he said the commonwealth has nearly tapped out its alternatives to slashing spending. Stimulus money is drying up, and the rainy day reserve fund won’t provide much relief. And Virginia, nearing its ceiling on debt, will be limited in its ability to raise money through bonds.
“We’ve done all the one-time things that we could possibly do,” said Brink.
The grim budget situation will trigger a lobbying blitz from groups hoping to shield themselves from the worst of the cuts. Kaine’s proposed budget reaches deeply into education, law enforcement and Medicaid.
The Virginia Education Association warns that a cap on support personnel included in the governor’s budget would force the layoffs of upward of 20,000 secretaries, janitors, nurses and other non-teaching staff across the commonwealth. With potential additional K-12 cuts from McDonnell, the budget “has the potential to be devastating to” local governments, said VEA President Kitty Boitnott.
Also included in Kaine’s $2.3 billion in proposed cuts is a freeze on new slots for care for the mentally disabled, and reduced reimbursements for caregivers, rolling back years of hard-fought progress by advocates. The spending plan “really does gut community-based care in Northern Virginia,” said Nancy Mercer, executive director of the Arc of Northern Virginia, an advocacy group for the disabled.
