Is it overtime or overkill at the General Assembly?

Alfred Biddlecomb
Published: March 12, 2008

One of the jobs my uncle used to have as senior warden at our church was to preside over vestry meetings. Everything from the church budget to the type of candles placed on the Advent Wreath were discussed. This caused the meetings to drag well into the night.

As a waterman who had to get up well before dawn the next morning, my uncle came up with a solution to shorten the vestry meetings. He first took away snacks and beverages while promising vestry members that the next meeting would be held without chairs.

The church’s business was taken care of in short order under the threat of having to conduct a meeting from the standing position. It all comes down to motivation. Too bad my uncle isn’t Speaker of the House of Delegates. It seems members of the General Assembly are too comfortable in their cushioned chairs in the House and Senate chambers having their lunch orders brought in by hardworking pages.

The constitution mandated that state lawmakers finish work on the commonwealth’s budget by the close of business last Saturday, yet the legislature is still in session.

This marks the fifth time in seven years lawmakers couldn’t agree on a spending plan in the time allotted.

Whispers of a budget deal surfaced Tuesday, but many feel the legislature won’t complete their work until Thursday at the earliest.

Maybe I was spoiled by former Speaker Vance Wilkins during the first General Assembly session I covered back in 2000.

With everyone expecting the 60-day legislative session to adjourn late Saturday, Wilkins drove the House of Delegates hard and wrapped up business on Friday evening. I was back in Dale City by midnight.

Now when the General Assembly asks for overtime, few people notice.

The excuse this time is that lawmakers are divided on how much money to spend on teacher pay raises, mental health and Gov. Tim Kaine’s pre-kindergarten program.

Forget transportation because that will be handled during an April special session. Without having to worry about roads (they haven’t worried about roads in 20 years), you’d think our lawmakers would have handed in their homework when it was due.

There just doesn’t seem to be much motivation for our lawmakers to get out of Richmond on time. Granted the House and Senate are controlled by different parties, but that didn’t stop lawmakers from doing their jobs in 1999 under similar circumstances.

It just seems that partisanship has reached such heights that floor speeches are longer, committee meetings drag on while the legislation piles up. Money, or lack thereof, is another culprit. Everyone wants to spend money, but many don’t want to collect it.

Compromise used to drive the General Assembly’s schedule. Democrats would give up a little money on one program while Republicans would agree to increase spending on another. Some taxes were eased while others were increased and the books were balanced in accordance with the state constitution.

Now every piece of legislation is run under the nose of tax-sniffing dogs to insure purity. Compromise is considered political betrayal in too many circles.

And the session drags on.

Every day the General Assembly extends the session while squabbling over a tardy budget, Virginia taxpayers are charged at least $20,000.

This shouldn’t be the case.

If a majority of our lawmakers refuse to compromise, then fines should be imposed. Divide $20,000 by 140 and you come up with a $142.86 fine for each member of the General Assembly for each day they hang around in Richmond.

No pay. No per diem. Only fines and contempt.

If that doesn’t work, then have the State Police block all the exits from Capitol Square, turn off the heating and air conditioning inside the Capitol and require the legislature to meet until a budget compromise is approved.

The key word here is compromise. A budget, much like the Constitution itself, is nothing more than a compromise. It’s too bad that so many of our politicians have purged the “C” word from their vocabulary.

And while many politicians in Richmond will tell their constituents that they’d rather stand on their principles while dragging the General Assembly into overtime, let’s make them stand for the duration. Take away their chairs and compromise will soon follow.

Alfred Biddlecomb is the former Opinion Page editor for the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger. Since he is still a resident of this area and knows quite a few things about life in Virginia, we have asked him to contribute his thoughts to this page every Tuesday.