As if 108 days weren’t enough time to wrangle over Virginia’s budget, lawmakers Friday continued to feud over line-by-line spending items.
Nine House and Senate budget negotiators have been working to put the finishing touches on the state’s two-year tax-and-spending plan. When the legislature approved a record $1.38 billion tax increase, the negotiators thought most of their problems had been solved and deciding how to spend the extra money would be a breeze.
Previously made plans and emotions got in the way of negotiations, however, as did the spending philosophies of some of the negotiators.
On Friday afternoon, loud voices could be heard coming from a private budget meeting as negotiators went over plans for prison beds and capital projects in minute detail.
Early last week, Delegate Lacey E. Putney, an independent from Bedford, was replaced as a negotiator because he has an ill family member.
Delegate Leo C. Wardrup, Virginia Beach Republican, was named to replace Mr. Putney. Some negotiators were irritated that Mr. Wardrup was asking a lot of questions about the spending plan, most of which had been worked out nearly two months before.
During Mr. Wardrup’s first negotiation meeting, he said he didn’t think the state should spend the new money “like drunken sailors” and that the negotiators should look instead at reducing spending.
These comments frustrated some of the negotiators.
House leaders were asked to speak to Mr. Wardrup and encourage him to go along with the seasoned negotiators. Insiders said the leaders did not ask Mr. Wardrup to back down.
A vote on the final budget is expected Thursday.
• Frequent flier
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams piled up more frequent-flier miles last week.
According to the mayor’s public schedule, he spent Wednesday attending a program that focuses on job-training prospects for ex-offenders. The program, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, was in Philadelphia, about 130 miles from the District.
Two days later, Mr. Williams was at a Technology Solutions awards luncheon, which was organized by the 2004 Conference of Public Technologists. The luncheon took place in San Antonio, about 1,590 miles from the District.
Yesterday and today, Mr. Williams was scheduled to attend the Inaugural Congress of United Cities and Local Governments in Paris, 3,839 miles from the District.
That’s a total of 11,118 miles in round trips — almost enough for a free domestic ticket on most airlines.
Almost enough? There’s always the rest of this week.
• Tuition petition
Students at the University of Maryland at College Park and Towson University said Wednesday they planned to deliver a petition with 3,000 signatures to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., an effort to persuade him to sign legislation that would cap tuition increases.
Mr. Ehrlich has vowed to veto the Higher Education Affordability and Access Act, which would provide an infusion of money for higher education through a 10 percent surcharge for three years on the corporate income tax.
The legislation, approved in the final days of the 2004 General Assembly session, would prohibit tuition increases of more than 5 percent for three years. Without it, students face an average tuition increase of about 9 percent this fall.
“Stable and predictable funding for higher education is the best investment you can make in the future of the state,” said Laslo Boyd, executive director of the nonprofit Marylanders for Access to Quality Higher Education, who lobbied legislators to approve the bill before they went home.
Students began collecting signatures April 23 in a last-minute attempt to convince Mr. Ehrlich to sign off on the bill. Paul Schurick, the Republican governor’s communications director, said Wednesday the governor had not received the petition, but that he likely wouldn’t be swayed by it.
Mr. Ehrlich has said the bill would undercut his administration’s efforts to make Maryland known as a good place to do business. He said earlier this month he would try to give higher education a funding increase in fiscal 2006 despite the state’s severe fiscal problems.
On Wednesday, however, Mr. Schurick said he “can’t imagine” Maryland will be able to afford increases to public colleges next year. The state faces a projected budget shortfall of at least $800 million.
Tuition has increased by as much as 54 percent over the past four years, with the percentage increase at most campuses in the university system ranging from the low 30s to the mid-40s.
“Educated students are the backbone of these corporations,” said Jason Waskey, a University of Maryland junior and a Progressive Maryland activist. He called the temporary corporate-tax surcharge “a small price to pay for an educated work force.”
If Mr. Ehrlich does go ahead with the veto, the student petition could help students rally support from legislators for a veto override next year, Mr. Boyd said. The bill gained passage in the House with 80 votes, five short of what is needed for an override. Senators approved it with 30 votes, one more than what is needed for override.
“We’re trying to raise the visibility of it,” Mr. Boyd said.
• ’Unused power’
The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged University of Maryland students to register and vote in the upcoming election, saying participation by young and minority voters could help sway a close election.
The civil rights leader cited several elections over the past 40 years where participation or a lack of it by minority voters helped swing the results.
“This ’unused power,’ power we never had before, puts our destiny and the destiny of the nation in our hands,” he told the crowd of about 150 people.
Mr. Jackson spoke Tuesday at a forum on the College Park campus marking the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, legislation aimed at ending discrimination based on race in public places and laying the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act a year later.
• Signing off on signs
Washington County, Md., officials are developing a proposal to ban new billboards temporarily in the county.
The county commissioners directed the legal staff Tuesday to draft an ordinance banning new billboards for 90 days. During that interval, county officials would consider tightening the current regulations.
The proposal stems from the Washington County Planning Commission’s recent rejection of a proposed billboard along Route 65 between Hagerstown and Sharpsburg, said James Kercheval, a county commissioner who also sits on the planning commission. He said the current law allows billboards at that location, but planning commissioners considered it inappropriate for outdoor advertising.
• Christina Bellantoni and Matthew Cella contributed to this column, which includes wire service reports.
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