Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine delivered a hopeful but dire State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday, defending his spending priorities and cuts as the General Assembly begins its legislative session.
Kaine, entering the last session of his four-year term, detailed how he plans to help the state emerge from the most protracted and painful recession in decades.
“I don’t have to tell you we are serving in one of the most difficult times in our nation’s recent history,” Kaine told House and Senate lawmakers. “But we must be mindful that our pressures are no greater than those facing our citizens every day. And, others who served her long before us faced similar difficulties.”
He discussed many of his past talking points — pushing the 30-cents-per-pack cigarette tax as a way to “avoid even deeper cuts that would mean denying health care services to some of our poor, elderly and disabled.” He defended his proposed cap on funding educational support staff as a way to keep K-12 cuts away from the classroom.
Kaine said he has set a goal of bidding out 30 capital projects worth at least $250 million by the end of the fiscal year in June. The construction would “put people to work, build a higher platform for long-term success and take advantage of a climate where construction costs are favorable.”
Virginia faces a budget shortfall of at least $3 billion in its two-year budget, a gap that promises to dominate the short session that kicked off Wednesday. Kaine’s speech is the second-to-last of his term, which ends in early 2010.
Republican leaders issued a rebuttal taped before Kaine delivered his speech. Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield, pledged a “pork-free” budget that funds only core government services. Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Lynchburg, attacked Kaine’s proposed tax increase.
“Do we want to impose new taxes on some Virginians and not others, as the administration has proposed tonight?” Newman asked. “Or do we want government as a whole to learn to live within its means, just like working families?”
