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Crossover will be on February 14th. Crossover is the point of the
legislative process when action on legislation introduced in the house of origin
must be completed. After crossover, the other legislative body will consider any
remaining proposals. The General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on Saturday,
March 11th, unless rumors about extending the session to address transportation
issues materialize.
Budget Crossover will be Sunday, February 19th. Current sense of the
legislative process is that higher education research initiative in some form
will be adopted. Likewise, the base adequacy funding increases proposed by
Governor Warner will be approved by the General Assembly. There is no consensus
to what extent capital construction projects, including Medical Sciences
Building II, Massey Cancer Center and the School of Dentistry Addition, will be
funded or whether funding source with be general funds or bonds.
Immigration and undocumented individuals continue to be a hot topics in
the General Assembly. There were more than 40 bills introduced on the subject
relating to everything from law enforcement authority, driver's licenses, and
admission and tuition to institutions of higher education. It appears that the
prevailing wisdom suggests that the General Assembly will ultimately adopt
restrictions on higher education admission with in-state tuition to those
individuals who are pursuing legal status, graduated from a Virginia high
school, and whose family has paid taxes for the past three years.
Eliminating authority of university boards of visitors to control guns on
campus was given serious consideration. The measure failed on a 2-3 vote in
subcommittee and was never heard in the full committee which may be a much more
favorable forum for the topic. There are other measures that will be considered
after crossover associated with weapons, including allowances to store in a
glovebox of a vehicle without a concealed weapon permit and to restrict agencies
and companies from adopting policies that would prohibit storing firearms in
locked vehicles on the agency or company's parking lots.
Transportation will consume much of the legislative and executive
posturing in the final days of the session. There is little question that there
will be some increase in transportation funding coming out of the General
Assembly. The significant gulf between the House and Senate, however, will be
the source of revenues for transportation. The House announced its
transportation plan on February 9th which relies primarily of reallocation of
existing resources. The Senate transportation plan includes a gasoline tax
increase. The Governor's transportation proposal, which included a variety of
revenue increases, was not approved in the House.
Status of bills impacting higher education and health policy are
conveniently listed for your review at 2006 Education
Bills and 2006 Health Bills.
Budget recommendations to be announced on February 19th by the Senate
Finance and House Appropriations Committees will be posted in the next
Highlights.
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