The Richmond Report

The Richmond Report
By: Senator Phillip Puckett
March 10, 2008

“Still no budget”.  This is the phrase being heard most often around the State Capitol these days due to the fact that we still do not have an agreement from the budget negotiators on a new 2008-10 state budget.  For the last week and a half twelve senior members from the House of Delegates and the State Senate have been meeting to negotiate a new state budget.  These budget negotiators, called conferees, are having a very difficult time in trying to reconcile the differences in the two chambers budget proposals.  We did recess the 2008 General Assembly Session on Saturday, March 8, a little after 10:30 p.m., but due to the lack of a budget agreement, we will be returning back into Session on Tuesday, March 11.  This will give the budget conferees a few more days to continue meeting and attempting to arrive at an acceptable budget compromise.  However, most of us are not optimistic of the chances of a budget agreement by Tuesday, March 11 and most expect that it may take several more weeks before an agreement is reached.  There are some very fundamental differences in the House and Senate versions of the budget and the philosophies that developed them. 

As I mentioned, the General Assembly Session was supposed to be over for good last weekend, but unfortunately we will be going back into Session this week to continue with efforts to produce a new state budget.  At the heart of the budget impasse are significant differences between the House and Senate over funding for the mentally disabled, pay raises for public employees, the Governor’s proposed expansion of the pre-kindergarten program, the use of state lottery profits, and how much money to withdraw from the state’s emergency account, the rainy-day fund, to help balance the state’s budget.  For this and other reasons, the budget conferees are having difficulties in reaching an agreement on funding for critical state services and programs that are all included in the new 2008-10 state budget. 

I sincerely hope that a budget agreement can be reached soon that would contain adequate funding for our core commitments to our citizens such as education (K-12 public schools and colleges & universities), public safety, health care services, mental health, and economic & community development.  The Senate budget makes significant investments in these important areas of state government to honor the commitments that have been made over the years, but at times have not been fully honored.

As I reported before, this was an extremely busy and hectic Session.  There were several thousand bills and resolutions to consider during this 60-day “long session”.  In all there were a total of 3,317 bills and resolutions that were introduced during this legislative session and out of that amount, 1,647 were approved by both the House and Senate and will now be sent to the Governor for his approval.  1,250 bills and resolutions were defeated and 316 were continued for further review and study until the 2009 General Assembly Session.  Although many bills and resolutions were approved, some had to be sent to a conference committee before they could finally be agreed upon.  A conference committee is created when the House and Senate cannot agree on the specific wording of a bill.  Several members of the House and Senate were appointed to each conference committee so that they could come to an agreement as to how a particular bill should read. 

On Friday, February 29, I was quite pleased to have Reverend Herbert Scott from the Morning Star Church in Castlewood who, at my request, provided the opening prayer and invocation to open our Senate Session.  Reverend Scott is a fine individual who gave an excellent prayer and did a good job in opening the proceedings of the Senate. 

Finally, I would like to mention how much I enjoyed seeing the many groups and individuals from “back-home” that came to Richmond to visit with us during this Session.  In the coming weeks I will attempt to highlight legislative items that were approved that would be of interest to the citizens of Southwest Virginia.

If you have any problems or concerns relating to state government or if you have questions concerning actions taken by the 2008 General Assembly please contact my district office at (276) 979-8181.  If I am unavailable then please feel free to speak with my Legislative Assistant, David Larimer II, and we would be happy to assist you in any manner possible.  Our mailing address for our district office is P.O. Box 924 Tazewell, Virginia 24651. 

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