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Houck
Members of the House of Delegates took a break from bills yesterday to honor former Del. Vince Callahan, R-Fairfax, (waving) for his 40 years of service. |
RICHMOND
--Legislators yesterday approved a $1.6 billion bond bill, and approved or rejected governor's amendments to legislation in their one-day reconvened session.They also finally appointed a group of new judges, appointments that got tied up in the regular session over disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over just a few of the selections. The judges include two new circuit judges in the Fredericksburg area, and new General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations judges to replace them.
The session is always held six weeks after the adjournment of the regular session for lawmakers to deal with any bills the governor vetoed or amended, including amendments to the state budget.
Legislators rejected seven of Kaine's 41 budget amendments, and Kaine withdrew another one, a controversial amendment that would have required Medicaid providers to prescribe generic psychotropic medications to mentally ill patients, rather than brand-name drugs, by putting behavioral medications into a system that limits which drugs doctors can prescribe.
Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, had opposed the amendment, along with mental health groups and other legislators in both houses.
Houck also led opposition to a budget amendment of Kaine's that took $5 million from substance abuse services and gave it to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates for ambulance drivers.
The House approved that amendment, but the Senate killed it.
Houck said that while ambulance drivers need the proper reimbursement, it shouldn't come at the expense of substance abuse services, for which he and other lawmakers have been fighting for years. He said $5.1 million had already been taken away from substance abuse programs.
Other senators agreed.
"It would be penny-wise and pound-foolish for us to take the money from substance abuse services," said Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta.
Kaine also sought to withdraw a potentially controversial amendment to an electricity deregulation bill that opponents said would allow more power lines to be built with possibly less public input.
An amended bill that would have allowed judges to temporarily suspend a constitutional officer from his or her elected office if that officer is indicted for a crime generated a lot of discussion in the Senate, and was ultimately rejected.
One senator said it would protect citizens from an indicted official who might return to their office to destroy evidence. But other senators said allowing judges to remove an elected official from office before they've been convicted of a crime raised serious constitutional questions.
Kaine, in a written response to the legislature's actions, said he was disappointed lawmakers rejected amendments that he thought would have improved reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, raise standards for energy-efficient buildings and put into law a goal for energy conservation levels.
The bond package, approved unanimously, will go to 75 building projects at state colleges, community colleges, state parks and other state buildings.
Those projects include $18.4 million to construct the Dahlgren campus of the University of Mary Washington, $37 million to construct an information and technology convergence center at UMW, and $25.8 million for an academic services building at Germanna Community College.
In addition, another 33 projects in the planning stages would bump the bond package to $2.6 billion over the next six years.
The judicial appointments made yesterday include two appointments to the circuit court in the Fredericksburg area: Judge Overton Harris, a General District Court judge, is due to be appointed to the circuit court, as is Judge Joseph Ellis, a Juvenile and Domestic Relations judge.
The stalemate over judgeships in the regular session held up the election of all the new judges set to be appointed, including Harris and Ellis. Legislators yesterday did not choose judges for seats that had been controversial, nor did they choose a judge for the State Corporation Commission. Kaine will have to make those appointments, but the legislature will have to act on them in the 2009 session.
During the six weeks since the regular session, the Fredericksburg Area Bar Association interviewed candidates to replace Harris and Ellis, and two unanimously-endorsed candidates were also elected yesterday.
V. James Ventura was appointed to Harris' General District seat, and his law partner, Patricia Kelly, was appointed to Ellis' Juvenile and Domestic Relations seat.
Both were interviewed yesterday by the legislative Courts of Justice committees. The interviews were brief, and legislators had few questions for Ventura and Kelly.
The one remaining issue before the legislature, transportation, got little attention yesterday. Kaine, however, said in a statement that he plans to continue meeting with legislators and to call a special session "in the coming months" to deal with the issue.
Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
