Major budgetary disagreements between Democrats and Republicans are expected to force next year’s Virginia General Assembly session well beyond its scheduled March adjournment, continuing a recent trend of lawmakers working overtime.
Three times this decade the House and Senate, both run by Republicans, failed to pass budget bills on time. As the 2008 session nears, political analysts do not see House Republicans and the Democrats who will control the Senate quickly resolving deepening fissures over how to eliminate a $641 million revenue shortfall.
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“I certainly hope we don’t go into extra innings, but it is going to be hard to imagine the Republican leadership of the House wanting to let the Democratic leadership in the Senate get their way,” said Sean O’Brien, director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.
In 2001, animpasse over cutting the car tax left lawmakers so frustrated that they left Richmond without approving amendments to the biennial spending plan they approved a year earlier, the first time in Virginia’s history a budget had not been revised in its second year.
The 2004 and 2006 sessions stretched into July and September, respectively, before legislators completed budget bills.
The sizable shortfall creates many opportunities for disagreement when lawmakers return to Richmond in January.
House Republicans are steadfastly refusing Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine’s calls to tap the state’s reserve account to cover about half of the shortfall.
“It would be irresponsible and foolish to raid the rainy day fund,” said Del. Vincent Callahan, R-McLean, the retiring chairman of the House budget-writing committee.
“[Republicans] want to stop government from being able to help people who need it,” said incoming Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax.
Lawmakers also must tackle expensive, constitutionally mandated increases in public education funding. State officials have not calculated the exact amount education allocations should increase, but with 1.2 million public students, any amount will be costly.
Partisan sniping also is expected over the governor’s proposal to expand state-funded pre-kindergarten programs in Virginia, which will cost $75 million annually when fully implemented.
