WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Virginia lawmakers have two days to smooth out a handful of relatively mundane but nevertheless nagging budget disagreements after an embarrassing failure to conclude negotiations by this weekend’s deadline.

Despite facing what legislators said was a surmountable handful of unresolved issues, the team of conferees from each house made only nominal progress toward agreement on the $78 billion budget before Saturday’s deadline. The assembly resolved to extend the session until Tuesday.

The impasse revolves around a set of contentious spending items: the governor’s proposed expansion of pre-kindergarten, teacher raises, Medicaid funding for the mentally retarded and a proposal to tap the state’s “rainy day” fund to help close a $2 billion budget shortfall over the next three years.

Conferees on Saturday split into smaller groups to tackle individual issues, which legislators said was a good sign of progress. They did not, however, manage to send a budget to the floor for the full General Assembly to vote on.

Gov. Tim Kaine urged a quick completion of the budget talks so lawmakers could turn their full attention to a transportation disaster brought about by a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that gutted a large part of last year’s road and rail funding package.

Kaine also is heavily invested in the budget outcome because many of his priorities, especially adding millions of dollars in funding to expand subsidized pre-kindergarten rolls, are tied to the negotiations.

“Pre-K is not going to be the reason why you can’t find a balanced budget ... the difference between $25 million and $43 million isn’t the difference about this budget being completed or being balanced,” Kaine said. “They can do that in 35 seconds.”

Republican opponents of expanding the program this year say the move would be irresponsible in light of the budget deficit and concurrent proposal to tap the rainy-day reserve.

“The Senate ... feels an obligation to Governor Kaine to try to fund these new programs, which by its nature takes more money out of the rainy-day fund,” said Del. Clay Athey, R-Warren. “We feel like we’re in a hole already, we just don’t want to make the hole any bigger than it already is.”

wflook@dcexaminer.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

10:45 AM MST on Mon., May. 12, 2008 re: "House nixes plan to cut teacher raises, leaving 2009 pay increases in danger"

max power said:
we do not need to make a big deal we can easily solve this by raising taxes we can make more profit from events and use it in schools that don't even have enough afterschool programs

Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

10:41 AM MST on Mon., May. 12, 2008 re: "Saslaw pushes tax increase to fill transportation gap after ruling"

bob howard said:
i agree with him that might sond kinda racist but its true we should raise the prices of fried chicken and cigaretes in atlanta in oder to solve the problem about the teacher budget fro next year let face it we all know a lot of people love fried chicken in the south and they smoke too they are killing themselfs y let that go to waste let make the best out of it and make a profit from those people who are doing the wolrd a favor.

Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

7:42 AM MST on Fri., Mar. 14, 2008 re: "Dulles rail re-bidding stripped from budget"

Lisa Green said:
I've read the State contract with Bechtel for Dulles Rail and I don't see how bidding out this project would be a "breach of Contract" as Sen. Colgan and Governor Kaine assert. This is hogwash that Governor Kaine has put out to stifle real competition. We've got to get him out of Bechtel's pocket already.

4 agree | 4 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

7:41 AM MST on Fri., Mar. 14, 2008 re: "Dulles rail re-bidding stripped from budget"

Examiner Reader said:
Someone should look into Governor Kaine's connections with Bechtel. Something isn't quite right there. Maybe we'll get lucky and find that Kaine was Bechtel's "Client #10"?

5 agree | 3 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

10:55 AM MST on Fri., Mar. 7, 2008 re: "Saslaw pushes tax increase to fill transportation gap after ruling"

Examiner Reader said:
i agree with the person below no excuse for va being so broke oh yea they left one out to va is one of the few states were u have to buy county stickers to just think of all those thousands of people that have to buy them here in va at twenty bucks apeace most other states dont have to buy, them so my question is were is all that money going to would really like to no the answer to that one,so the person below is exactly right theres no excuse for va being so broke,do your job kaine and quit getting off the wall bills passed that waste tax payers money,thats not the job we the people voted you in to do.

9 agree | 3 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

2:22 PM MST on Mon., Feb. 18, 2008 re: "Governor�s plan to cut state aid puts squeeze on local budgets"

Examiner Reader said:
Get rid of the illegal people in N.Virginia, and the drain they have us and get busy taking care of the Americans. There is no excuse for Virginia to be so broke. One of the few states that have total controll of the liguor,beer and wine, one of the few states that you have to pay personal property taxes on your car every year,one of the few states that is a commonwealth. So Mr.Kaine, do your job, get your priorities straight and find out where all the money went.

43 agree | 29 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate