The General Assembly adjourned the 2012 regular session Saturday night, and immediately called itself into special session.  The reason for the special session is the continued budget standoff.  But based on the events of the final week of the regular session, a resolution to the impasse may be coming sooner rather than later. Although few visitors came to see the General Assembly in action during the final week of session, the legislative productivity was very high.  By the time the session was gaveled to a close, 855 bills had been approved and sent to Governor McDonnell for his action.  Measures dealing with economic development, government reorganization, education reform, and transportation were all approved by legislators this session. As was the case in previous years where a budget was not approved by the scheduled end of session, much of the focus during the final week was on the continued impasse.  The House has successfully approved a budget twice, but the Senate has been unable to do so.  On Thursday, the situation in the Senate changed.  Democratic Senator Charles Colgan of Prince William County, the longest serving senator in Virginia history, took to the floor of the Senate to address his colleagues.  Expressing dissatisfaction with the budget standoff, he announced he was committed to reaching a resolution and wanted the impasse to end soon. That changed everything.  From there, the Senate Finance Committee met to review a new set of budget priorities from Democratic Senators.  As their demands have finally switched from political to budgetary policies, there is finally a path to resolving the situation.  Working with a negotiating team led by Delegate Lacey Putney on behalf of the House, lawmakers will be meeting over the next two weeks to reach an agreement. The speed with which this year’s General Assembly approved bills meant that several have already been signed by Governor McDonnell.  Two of my bills, House Bills 462 and 1062, were signed into law by the Governor before the end of session.  House Bill 462, which updates Virginia’s informed consent law by adding the use of ultrasound to determine the gestational age of the unborn child, received more attention than any other piece of legislation filed this session.  House Bill 1062 received far less attention.  It affects the requirement of the Attorney General’s office to represent the state before the Virginia Employment Commission.  Both bills become law on July 1. In the closing days of the Assembly, two of my bills received final approval.  House Bill 460, which continues my efforts to improve Virginia’s tax structure to make our state more attractive to manufacturers, won final approval from the House on Monday.  House Bill 1295, which relieves localities from several state-imposed mandates, won final approval on the last day of session.  Both are headed to Governor McDonnell for his action.  Also awaiting the Governor’s Action is House Bill 1061, which streamlines and strengthens high school diplomas in Virginia. The end of session means this is also my last column for…..

I am pleased that the Governor and members of the House and Senate have stood to provide all the information available to protect the health of women and their voiceless unborn children before making this life-changing decision.

This week Virginia entered into its fourth budget stalemate in eleven years.  This one, however, is very different from those that have occurred previously. Following through on their threat to prevent the passage of any budget unless their demands for different committee assignments were met, Senate Democrats killed the budget, House Bill 30.  For good measure, they also killed the bill that makes amendments to the existing budget, House Bill 29.  In doing so, they created a situation that has never happened before: the General Assembly has no budget bill to discuss, debate, or with which to conduct negotiations. The Virginia General Assembly began enacting biennial budgets, two-year spending plans for state government, in 1920.  In the 92 years since, we have never been without a budget bill under consideration.  Until now, that is. Our own Lacey Putney, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, acted quickly to get a new budget bill introduced for consideration.  This is not as easy as it may sound.  The General Assembly operates under procedures governing when bills can be introduced.  Under those procedures, the deadline for submitting bills passed more than five weeks ago.  A bill can only be introduced after the deadline if either the Governor submits it or if every member of the House of Delegates agrees to do so.  In a remarkable show of bipartisan cooperation, House Democrats joined House Republicans in unanimously voting to allow the new budget bill to be introduced. The introduction of a new budget bill meant the House had to hold a lengthy debate over the budget for the second time in eight days.  And, we had to vote on the budget bill for a second time as well.  The new budget bill was approved by the House on Friday and is now headed for the Senate.  There, Senate Democrats will determine whether the current impasse continues. This was a very productive week.  House Bill 460, my legislation on the single sales factor – the top priority for Virginia’s manufacturers in this year’s session – was unanimously approved by the Senate.  As you’ve undoubtedly heard through multiple media outlets, my legislation to fulfill the original intent of Virginia’s informed consent law, House Bill 462, was also approved in the Senate, by a vote of 21 to 19.  My legislation to streamline and strengthen Virginia’s high school diplomas, House Bill 1061, received final approval from the House.  Finally, the Senate approved my bill to reduce unfunded mandates on Virginia localities, House Bill 1295. All of these bills are either already on the Governor’s desk waiting for action, or will be very shortly. Ordinarily I would be promising a session wrap-up for next week’s column.  But with the Senate Democrats refusing to act on a budget bill, I cannot be sure next week will be the end of the 2012 session.  Regardless of what happens, I’ll have an update for you on what has occurred and what it will mean for you. Until then, have a great week.

This week inRichmondstarted with snow and ended with thunderstorms and tornado warnings.  During the course of the week, the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees revealed their respective versions of the state budget, only to have the Senate, in an historic first, unable to approve its proposal.  In all, this was the most eventful week of session so far. The House’s version ofVirginia’s two-year spending plan reflects the priorities of a bipartisan majority in the House, and was approved by a vote of 79 to 21.  Part of the reason for that strong support is that the House plan stresses fiscal preparedness, with many of its features intended to protectVirginiain uncertain economic times. The House plan replenishes the state’s Rainy Day Fund, which was significantly depleted during the economic downturns of the last several years.  Its balance will double by 2014.  To further insolateVirginiafrom economic uncertainty, the House plan sets up two additional reserve funds. The first reserve fund is intended to offset any further reductions in federal government payments toVirginia, and the second will be a revenue reserve in case the economy does not rebound rapidly enough to meet revenue expectations.  If revenue growth does keep pace with expectations, the second fund will be used to finance a pay raise for state employees and state-supported local government employees in the second year of the budget. State funding for local governments and schools will also increase under the House plan.  It adds $138 million to the funding levels for public schools proposed by Governor McDonnell in his introduced budget, which was already an increase.  And, it restores $70 million in aid to localities.  These increases should help to limit the calls by local officials to increase local taxes. The House budget plan also provides the highest level of funding for higher education in a decade. On healthcare, the plan restores funding to the health safety network, ensuring Medicaid payments for nursing homes and hospitals and providing additional Medicaid waiver slots for the intellectually and developmentally disabled. The House also incorporated multiple job creating and business growth measures in its budget.  It further reduces the number of businesses subjected to accelerated sales tax payments and included all of the more than $125 million dedicated in the Governor’s budget to economic development.  Of course, all of these benefits will only be available if the General Assembly can enact a budget.  Right now, the prospects for that are decidedly uncertain. The Senate Democrats so far are intent on blocking the passage of a budget.  Their position is that they will block the passage of any budget unless they get their way on Committee assignments.  In case you were wondering, Committee assignments are entirely unrelated to the budget.  Nothing having to do with Committee assignments even appears in the budget. They followed through on their threat and successfully blocked the Senate’s budget proposal.  There will be another budget vote in the Senate this week, this time on whether to approve or amend the House…..

I was honored to present a Joint Resolution to Teacher of the Year, Meg Smith, during a Center Aisle Presentation. Congratulations Meg! We are proud of you!