For a while there, it didn't seem like we'd ever get a budget, but apparently we now do.
State budget talks ended successfully early Wednesday afternoon when House and Senate negotiators shook hands on a $77 billion two-year spending deal.The General Assembly should vote on the plan when it convenes Thursday afternoon.
The budget, which takes effect in July, will include salary increases for state workers and public school teachers, additional funding for the mentally disabled, a modest preschool expansion and a new fund to encourage colleges and universities to hold down tuition.
The devil's in the details, of course, and the making of sausage legislation can get really ugly, as we all know. That's why we'll have to look closely at what's in this agreement before passing any judgments. Right off the bat, though, I'm glad to see that there's $1.5 million in funding for Alicia's Law. Oh, and I'm also very happy to see that the House Republicans were defeated in their attempt to reconfigure the way public schools are funded. I'll be interested to hear reactions from both sides of the aisle.
STATE WILL INVEST IN ALICIA'S LAW; PROTECTS VIRGINIA'S CHILDREN~expanding law enforcement to protect kids~
Richmond - House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran made the following statement after the budget conference committee approved $1.5 million in funding for Alicia's Law. The law, named after the a 13-year old victim of an online child sex predator, will expand regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces (ICAC) that will investigate, arrest and prosecute these predators. The ICAC reports more than 20,000 computers in Virginia with online child pornography, but ICAC only has the capacity to investigate and arrest approximately 2 percent of these cases. The final budget will be approved this Thursday afternoon.
"Today is a tremendous step in our efforts to protect Virginia's children from the most violent, vile online predators. Every time you bring a computer into your home, you provide online predators with access to your children. Law enforcement officers have not had the resources to combat these crimes, but today we have taken a major first step by expanding two regional task forces to investigate and arrest these offenders.
As a former prosecutor and the father of two young children, I know there is no more important investment than protecting our kids. These task forces will be able to save thousands of children from unspeakable and unimaginable crimes. I thank the members of the House and the Senate who have worked to secure this important investment."
The $1.5 million investment in Alicia's Law will be split evenly between the Southern Virginia ICAC based in Bedford and the Northern Virginia ICAC based in Fairfax.
CONFEREES REACH AN AGREEMENT
Compromise Budget Avoids Disastrous Changes to Education and Includes Funds for Mental Health, Pre-K, and Alicia's Law(Richmond, Va.) - Facing budget deficits of nearly $2 billion, the Virginia Budget Conferees announced a deal today on an over $77 billion budget that includes funding for mental health reform, expansion of the Virginia Pre-School Initiative and $1.5 million for Alicia's Law - a program designed to crack down on Internet-based sexual predators.
The budget also included funding for re-benchmarking the Standards of Quality (SOQs). The final budget will resemble the plan put forth by the Senate, avoiding the House plan which would have cut hundreds of millions of dollars from education.
Senate Finance Chairman and lead negotiator for the Senate, Charles Colgan (D-Prince William), said this was one of the most difficult budget conferences he has endured during his tenure in the Senate.
"Negotiations were hard fought. This was my seventeenth time as a budget conferee. I can remember when it took longer, but never when we worked harder," he said.
The budget will be voted upon by both bodies on Thursday.
Budget conferees have been meeting for several weeks trying to broker a deal and extended the General Assembly Session, which was set to adjourn on Saturday, until Thursday.
Majority Leader in the Senate and Budget Conferee Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) was pleased with the progress made over the past several weeks of the negotiating and the final outcome of the compromise.
"It took some time, but we were able to fashion a budget that will help all Virginians," he said.
Conference Committee Funding for Education Closely Resembles Senate's Original Budget
Senate conferees successfully passed their plan to include nearly $1 billion for re-benchmarking the SOQs and providing teachers a pay raise of 2 percent in the next Fiscal Year.
The budget passed by the House would have changed the SOQ formula, cutting millions of dollars from education and teacher pay raises.
That idea was a non-starter for the Senate Conferees said Senator Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania), Senate Education and Health Committee Chair and Budget Conferee.
"The radical SOQ plan advanced by the House would have taken millions away from education. We stuck together to make sure teachers would get pay raises and our schools were adequately funded," he said.
In addition, Senate conferees were able to include $22 million to expand the Virginia Pre-School Initiative.
"Expanding the Virginia Pre-School Initiative is critical to keeping Virginia moving forward. It has been shown that investing in pre-school education will increase the chances a child is able to read by the third grade. And if children can read by third grade, they have a much higher chance of success throughout the rest of their lives," Houck said. "Our Commonwealth is continuing to grow and funding public education is the best investment we can make."
Making New Investments in Health and Safety
To address the Commonwealth's urgent need for reform of its mental health system, the compromise budget will include $42 million to expand community-based mental health services.
Those services include outpatient services for children and adults, case management services, emergency services, services to divert individuals with mental illness from jails and prisons, crisis intervention training, and licensing staff and accountability.
"The budget provides enough funds to truly make a difference in our mental health system," Senator Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), Senate finance committee member and budget conferee, said. "This was one of our priorities heading into the session. We knew this was critical and the funds appropriated in this budget will help reform Virginia's mental health system."
Conferees also agreed to an additional 600 slots in a program that allows mentally retarded people to receive treatment at home.
They also included $1.5 million in the budget for Alicia's Law, an initiative to help crack down on Internet-based sexual predators.
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Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus chair and Senate Finance Committee member, Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington), was delighted with the outcome of the negotiations and the efforts put forth by the Senate budget conferees.
"The conferees faced a massive budget deficit and declining revenues, but were able to pass a fiscally responsible budget without sacrificing our principles," she said.
"We were able to prevent the disastrous changes the House wanted to make in cutting funds for education and were able to fund pre-k and reform mental health. This was their first budget conference as the majority in the Senate, and our guys did a great job of sticking together and passing a budget we can be proud of."
On the negative side, the GA didn't adopt the Governor's "Virginia Share" health insurance program. Republicans "walked away" from increased funding for prenatal care, despite the fact that Virginia has the 17th highest infant morality rate in the country. The GA didn't close the gun show loophole. And, of course, there's still transportation to deal with, possibly in a special session this spring.
Anyway, that's the view from Del. Moran's office.