Virginia General Assembly Adjorns, Passes Budget

Virginia's House and Senate unanimously passed amendments to the state's $80 billion budget Sunday, ending the 2011 General Assembly one day late.

The compromise government spending blueprint through June 2012 offers more aid for public schools, for the profoundly disabled and for state and local government pensioners. It also provides state aid to brake the meteoric rise in tuition at state-supported colleges and universities.

However, Gov. Bob McDonnell ended up with only about a fifth of the $150 million he asked for in December for transportation from last year's general fund budget and reductions he sought for school funding were reversed. Plums he proposed for the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and a 2012 sailing regatta were rejected by House and Senate members.

McDonnell said he was strongly considering restoring some of the funding for transportation when he sends the budget bill back to legislators for the April 6 veto session.

The House and Senate did give the Democratic governor a victory by passing the transportation funding package he proposed, including about $3 billion in debt. It represents the biggest state cash infusion for Virginia highway upkeep and construction in 25 years.

It passed on a 97-0 vote in the House and a 40-0 vote in the Senate, the first time in years that it cleared without dissent. Before they left, legislators reconvened in a special session and recessed until April 4, the day they return to begin redrawing the state's House and Senate districts.

The budget does some deferred state fiscal housekeeping, depositing $114 million into the "rainy day" reserves depleted by a three-year economic downturn. That was $64 million more than McDonnell sought.

It also gives a break to most of the state's merchants by ending the accelerated sales tax. That means that only the largest retailers still have to send the state two checks -- for June and July sales tax collections -- instead of one. The sales-tax speedup was enacted at the depth of the recession to help cover a budget shortfall.

Public schools receive about $75 million more than the $5.5 billion that McDonnell had proposed while the House wanted to cut McDonnell's proposal by about $93 million.

Also included in the sweetened sum is about $16 million that prevents continued losses among the state's smallest and poorest school districts.

Public television's state support was cut by about $400,000, or one-tenth, but it survived the elimination of all state aid the House had proposed.

Teachers and state employees hired before last July 1 avoid a 2 percent net pay cut they would have taken under McDonnell's budget. The new budget places on employees the responsibility for paying a 5 percent share of their retirement into the Virginia Retirement System. But it provides $7 million to offset the burden by providing a 5 percent public employee raise, their first since 2007. McDonnell's budget provided only a 3 percent raise.

To slow recent state college tuition spikes, the budget allocates more than $100 million for financial aid and to increase the number of slots for in-state students at flagship state universities such as Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.

Also addressed was a scathing Justice Department report on major deficiencies in the outmoded hospital-style institutions where the intellectually disabled are warehoused. The budget provided at least $30 million more in emergency funding.

The money goes into a new Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Trust Fund that McDonnell proposed to take urgent steps to head off a federal lawsuit alleging Virginia has flaunted the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It also provides nearly $47 million to help the disabled and mentally ill move into community care facilities supported under Medicaid.

The budget restores more than $64 million for reimbursements to Medicaid providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and dentists, who were facing reductions on July 1.

Businesses get some breaks. About $6 million in fees are eliminated, including fees the Health Department imposes for inspections that are as high as $285 for restaurants and $100 for other businesses.

There are about $10 million worth of tax incentives for Virginia vineyards and ports and for research and development.

But McDonnell got only about half of the $3 million increase he wanted in a discretionary fund his administration could use to romance Hollywood into filming blockbusters in Virginia.

Lawmakers rejected McDonnell's proposal to spend nearly $70 million to keep up with explosive growth in the state's civil commitment program for sexually violent predators. Instead, they authorized the double-bunking of up to 150 of the more than 200 sex offenders being held at a Burkeville psychiatric facility for treatment after their prison sentences have ended.
Source; www.shoredailynews.com