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So, the news out of Richmond today is the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget. Michael Sluss has this breaking news report here.

Meanwhile, we’ve received competing statements from both parties, almost back-to-back. The Republicans say it’s a Democratic temper tantrum over losing committee seats; the Democrats say it’s about Republicans’ failure to deal with transportation.

What do think?

Here are the two statements.

First, the Republicans (since theirs arrived first): Read more »

RICHMOND — The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously today to advance a two-year, $85 billion state budget plan, setting the stage for a Monday floor vote and negotiations with the House of Delegates.

The Senate panel approved the budget plan (HB 1301) after incorporating some of the spending demands of Senate Democrats, who twice blocked passage of a budget bill during the General Assembly’s regular 60-day session.  Lawmakers formally began a special session on March 10 to deal with the budget.

Democrats removed a major barrier to a deal when they separated their demand for more power in the evenly divided Senate from budget negotiations with Republicans, who have working control of the chamber. The plan approved by the Finance Committee today includes additional funding Democrats had sought for public schools, health and human services programs and toll relief for transportation projects in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

The committee-approved budget plan does not contain funding to cover the costs of pre-abortion ultrasound procedures that will be mandated under legislation that Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed into law. Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, said Democrats will introduce a floor amendment Monday in an effort to get the provision included in the budget bill.

The budget bill was introduced in the House of Delegates, which passed the measure earlier this month. If the Senate passes the revised version of the bill Monday, conferees from the two chambers then would work to reconcile differences between the two plans. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Walter Stosch, R-Henrico County, said today that he hopes the two chambers can reach a compromise quickly.

– Michael Sluss

Bill Stanley

RICHMOND — The sponsor of a bill that will create tax credits for contributions to private school scholarships wants Gov. Bob McDonnell to make sure the incentive is targeted to students from low-income families.

Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, said he will ask McDonnell to amend the legislation (SB 131) to narrow eligibility for the scholarships to students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches in the state’s public schools. The final version of the bill passed by the General Assembly sets eligibility at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $69,150 for a family of four.

“That doesn’t work,” Stanley said in an interview on Friday. “Those grants and scholarships can be used as gap scholarships for a kid that’s got 80 percent of his [tuition] paid because his family can pay 80 percent and needs 20 percent. That’s not what this bill was intended to do, so I’m going to ask the governor to make an amendment to that.”

McDonnell will have 30 days to act on the legislation. If he amends the bill, the General Assembly would vote on his recommendation at its April 18 veto session. McDonnell has made the tax credit proposal a centerpiece of an education agenda that has had mixed success in the legislature.

“We have 30 days to review the bill and look forward to discussing specifics with the senator,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said. “We strongly support this bill and its successful implementation.”

Stanley’s bill barely got through the politically-divided Senate last month, thanks to a tie-breaking vote from Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. Democrats opposed the legislation, arguing that the tax expenditure will drain resources from the state’s general fund, which supports public schools and other programs.

The bill would award tax credits to individuals and corporations to offset 65 percent of a donation to a qualifying scholarship foundation. Scholarship awards would be capped at the state per-pupil funding rate for the student’s home locality. The amount of credits the state would award would be capped at $25 million annually.

The program would take effect in 2014 and would expire in 2017 unless lawmakers lift a sunset provision in the legislation.

The original version of Stanley’s bill limited the scholarship awards to students who would qualify for free and reduced-price lunches in public schools. The income eligibility was expanded when Stanley’s bill was merged with a similar measure sponsored by Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg.

“I think it’s important, and would be important for our area, for children in lower-income families to be able to go to private school and for parents to be able to make those choices,” Stanley said Friday.

Del. Jimmie Massie, R-Henrico County, who sponsored the House version of the bill, said he was unsure whether he will support Stanley’s recommendation. The original version of Massie’s bill limited scholarship awards to students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunches, but the Senate amended it to mirror Stanley’s bill.

Stanley said he will not ask the governor to change the income eligibility standard for disabled students. Disabled students from families with incomes as high as 400 percent of the poverty level will be eligible for private school scholarships.

– Michael Sluss

RICHMOND — The General Assembly will end its 60-day session on Saturday without finishing its most important work – passing a two-year state budget.

The legislature will adjourn Saturday and immediately convene a special session to deal with the budget. But the entire General Assembly won’t return to the Capitol for at least a week, giving budget negotiators time to work toward reaching an accord on a new state spending plan.

“It will allow a period of time for some emotions to cool,”’ said Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment, R-James City County. “I think all of us are anxious to get back home and see what kind of feedback we’re getting.”

The budget has been stalled by a partisan rift in the state Senate, where Democrats have twice blocked passage of a two-year $85 billion spending plan. Democrats remain bitter that Republicans have taken organizational control of the Senate and they want more of their priorities included in the final version of the state budget.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Walter Stosch, R-Henrico County, said this morning that a special session will give budget-writers more time to analyze spending requests that Senate Democrats outlined earlier this week in a letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell.  Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said this morning that some progress has been made, but he declined to discuss specifics.

McDonnell said Democrats needlessly delayed passage of a budget by waiting until the final week of the session to spell out the issues they want addressed in the spending plan.

“This obviously will raise the costs of the legislative session in your pay and your staff, which is paid for by the taxpayers of Virginia, an outcome which could have been prevented had you engaged in this discussion sooner,” McDonnell wrote in a letter to Saslaw and Sen. Donald McEachin, the chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Transportation funding remains a key friction point between the Republican governor and Senate Democrats. McDonnell wants to divert an additional portion of state sales tax revenue from the general fund to transportation, but Democrats contend that the shift will drain funds from education, public safety and health care programs that rely on general fund dollars. Democrats want McDonnell to sign a bill that would index the gasoline tax to inflation to generate transportation revenue, but the governor has no appetite for the proposal.

“You and I know there is no legislative consensus on this proposal, and I seriously doubt that the citizens of the Commonwealth would support any policy that increases gas prices at this time,” McDonnell wrote.

Democrats also want Senate Republicans to give them greater representation on certain Senate committees in exchange for their votes on a budget plan. Republicans seized organizational control of the Senate last month with the help of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s tie-breaking vote, and established GOP majorities on all but one Senate committee. Democrats argue that the committee structure should better reflect the Senate’s partisan division.

“If we don’t fix the committee structure, then we’ll back next year with the same problem,” said Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, referring to the divisive fights over social issues that took place in the Senate this winter.

Edwards said a cooling off period could help lawmakers forge a budget deal. Norment said lawmakers can benefit from going home and hearing directly from their constituents about the urgency of getting a budget deal done.

“It’s one thing about emails and letters and stuff, but it’s something totally different when you see someone in the grocery store, or the church or the PTA meeting,” Norment said.

Some of the loudest feedback lawmakers get may come from local governments and school boards that are attempting to prepare their own budgets without knowing how much state aid they will receive.

“We need to have some kind of budget document as quickly as possible for planning purposes,” Dean Lynch, the deputy executive director of the Virginia Association of Counties.

The budget impasse also is slowing the General Assembly’s appointment of judges, because the House and Senate have not agreed on how many judicial vacancies will be funded.

– Michael Sluss

RICHMOND – It was a picnic with a political twist.

Several dozen people, mostly women and children, converged on the state Capitol grounds at lunchtime today to celebrate women’s rights and protest what they called an over-reaction by police to an abortion-rights demonstration last weekend.

At the weekend event, where hundreds of people protested newly passed legislation requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, 30 people were arrested by police in riot gear when they refused to leave the Capitol steps.

Today’s event was far more low-key.

Organizers said its purpose was for mothers to teach their children about women’s rights, civil disobedience and democracy.

The group did not get a protest permit after being assured by Capitol Police that anyone is free to picnic on the Capitol grounds.

On an unseasonably warm, sunny day, the women spread blankets on and around the Capitol steps and munched sandwiches while children cavorted on the grass. There were no protest signs.

Meghan McSweeney of Richmond said she brought her children to the event “to teach them that we’re citizens and have a right to be here.” She called the police response to last weekend’s protest “ridiculous.”

A handful of Capitol Police officers watched the picnickers from a short distance away.

-Bill Sizemore, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot

The House of Delegates has put the finishing touches on legislation that will require voters to show identification at the polls in order to cast a regular ballot, sending the measure to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s desk.

The House today passed a Senate version of the legislation (SB 1), which has stirred heated debate throughout the General Assembly session.  The bill strikes a provision in state law that allows a voter without proper identification to cast a ballot after signing a sworn statement affirming his or her identity.

Under the bill passed today, voters who do not have identification would cast provisional ballots that could be discarded if they fail to provide proper identification before the votes are canvassed. Opponents of the bill have criticized the measure as a thinly veiled effort to suppress the votes of minorities and other groups.

It took Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s tie-breaking vote for the bill to pass the Senate. The Republican-dominated House passed the final version of the bill today by a vote of 66-31. The vote broke largely along party lines, but three Republicans voted against the final version of the bill, including Del. Greg Habeeb of Salem and Del. Joseph Yost of Blacksburg.

The Senate’s version allows voters more options for valid identification than a House-sponsored measure. The acceptable forms of identification include a driver’s license, voter registration card, government-issued photo ID, social security card, bank statement or utility bill.

Under the Senate version of the bill, voters who cast a provisional ballot must present the local electoral board with a valid identification to have the ballot counted.  The House version of the bill (HB 9)would have allowed a registrar to count the provisional ballot after comparing the signature on the ballot to the signature in the applicant’s voter file.

The House bill was conformed to match the Senate’s version after negotiations between legislators from both chambers.

 – Michael Sluss

RICHMOND — Gov. Bob McDonnell signed legislation today that will require women to submit to an abdominal ultrasound procedure before having an abortion, punctuating an emotionally charged debate that drew protesters to the state Capitol and put Virginia in the national spotlight.

McDonnell’s decision to sign the bill was not a surprise. The Republican governor last month called on lawmakers to amend the legislation after realizing that it could require women to submit to a more invasive “transvaginal” procedure in order to terminate an early-stage pregnancy. Lawmakers made those changes before sending the final version of the bill to the governor’s desk last week.

“I do not believe any woman should be required by the state to undergo such an ultrasound, without her consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure,” McDonnell said in a statement. “The bill I signed today ensures that will not occur.”

HB 462, which takes effect July 1, will limit the state mandate to an external, abdominal ultrasound. It also includes an exception for victims of incest and rape who report the crimes to police.

But weakening the law did little to quell the public firestorm that surrounded it. McDonnell signed the bill just four days after hundreds of protesters marched on Capitol Square to decry the legislation. Police arrested 30 of the demonstrators.

The bill’s sponsor, Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford County, said last week that she received “vile phone messages” and “obscene emails” as debate over the legislation intensified.

Abortion rights advocates vehemently oppose the law, arguing that it amounts to government intrusion into health care decisions of patients and physicians.

“No one should be forced by Bob McDonnell or the government to undergo a medical procedure against their will,” said Tarina Keene,the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. “Women should have the option of having an ultrasound, not forced to undergo a completely unnecessary procedure prescribed by politicians instead of doctors.”

Democratic leaders have denounced the bill as an example of overreach by Republicans who control both houses of the General Assembly.

Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, who repeatedly denounced the legislation on the Senate floor, said McDonnell “is putting his own personal beliefs before Virginia women and is making them go through an unnecessary, costly and intentionally traumatizing medical procedure.”

The bill passed the evenly divided Senate by a vote of 21-19.

“It is so sad that Bob McDonnell cares more about pandering to his extreme conservative political base than the rights of women,” said Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

McDonnell said the ultrasound mandate is a logical extension of Virginia’s “informed consent” law governing abortion procedures.

“As difficult as an abortion decision is, the information provided by ultrasounds, along with other information given by the doctor pursuant to current law and prevailing medical practice, can help the mother make a fully informed decision,” McDonnell said.

“This bill does not legally alter a woman’s ability to make a choice regarding her pregnancy,” McDonnell added. “It does, however, put Virginia in line with 23 other states that have some type of requirement that a woman be offered a view of an ultrasound before an abortion can be performed.”

But some opponents of the bill said the external ultrasound procedure will reveal nothing for women in the early stages of a pregnancy, when most abortions occur.

Anti-abortion groups commended McDonnell and legislative supporters for standing behind the bill in the face of angry protests.

“The signing of this bill today shows that the governor understands the need to support human life and to provide greater protection to the women by obtaining relevant and critical information before making the irreversible decision to abort their unborn child,” said Olivia Gans, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life.

Victoria Cobb, the president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, said: “We are very pleased that the governor ignored the hysterical rantings of the abortion industry and its defenders and signed this reasonable, common sense measure into law.”

McDonnell acknowledged that the abortion issue has raised “passionate feelings” but said he considers it important to “embrace a culture of life.”

“I believe that we become a more compassionate society when we enact reasonable legislation to protect innocent human life,” McDonnell said.

– Michael Sluss

Both houses of the General Assembly postponed action on filling judicial vacancies today, partly because of the state budget impasse.

The House of Delegates was poised to move forward today on a slate of judicial appointments, including a candidate to fill a two-year old circuit court vacancy in the New River Valley. But both houses decided to postpone action on the issue today.

Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment, R-James City County, said the two houses need to reach an agreement on how many judicial openings will be funded in the new state budget, which lawmakers have yet to approve. A handful of House and Senate budget negotiators met Tuesday in an effort to iron out differences over spending priorities, but the Senate has yet to pass a budget bill because of a partisan standoff in the evenly divided chamber.

“I think it’s not necessarily a good message to these [judicial] candidates to have the expectation that they are elected and then possibly not have those positions funded,” Norment said.

– Michael Sluss

As expected, Gov. Bob McDonnell today signed controversial legislation that will require a pregnant woman to submit to an external ultrasound procedure before having an abortion.

The bill is the most controversial measure to come before the General Assembly session this year, triggering heated debate among legislators and demonstrations on Capitol Square.

Here’s McDonnell’s statement explaining his decision to sign the bill.

“The issue of abortion raises passionate feelings among many Virginians, based on one’s own views on life and liberty.  While debates in the legislature over the decades may seem to indicate there is no common ground to be found on this issue, I believe that areas of agreement can and do exist.  Most agree that a woman’s decision to seek an abortion is difficult, irreversible and life-altering.  Nearly everyone agrees that reducing the number of abortions is a laudable goal.  I believe that we become a more compassionate society when we enact reasonable legislation to protect innocent human life.

Women have a right to know all the available medical and legal information surrounding the abortion decision before giving legally effective informed consent.  Informed consent is already required prior to an abortion being performed in Virginia, based on the longstanding health care concept that complete information about a medical procedure must be given to a patient before she can freely consent to a procedure.  As difficult as an abortion decision is, the information provided by ultrasounds, along with other information given by the doctor pursuant to current law and prevailing medical practice, can help the mother make a fully informed decision.

This bill does not legally alter a woman’s ability to make a choice regarding her pregnancy. It does, however, put Virginia in line with 23 other states that have some type of requirement that a woman be offered a view of an ultrasound before an abortion can be performed.

I previously recommended amendments to the legislature to remove any requirement in this bill for a state mandated internal ultrasound procedure, and the General Assembly agreed that amendments were necessary. I do not believe any woman should be required by the state to undergo such an ultrasound, without her consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure. The bill I signed today ensures that will not occur.

As I have for 21 years as a public servant, I consider it important to embrace a culture of life in our Commonwealth, and to protect the life and liberty of all of our citizens.  While we sometimes reach different policy conclusions in our great, free nation, let us continue to work together with respect and civility for the common good.”

RICHMOND – State funds to buy down tolls in Hampton Roads are included in a letter Democratic leaders in the Virginia Senate today sent to Gov. Bob McDonnell in exchange for their support of Virginia’s next biennial budget.

The three-page letter from Sens. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, and Donald McEachin, D-Henrico County, insists that the budget include a gas tax increase tied to inflation rather than taking additional general fund revenues for transportation, as the governor has proposed.

The indexed gas tax is a key provision in the Senate budget, while the House bill opts for the incremental sales tax shift preferred by McDonnell.

Democrats have used their voting bloc in the 40-member Senate, a chamber evenly split with Republicans, to reject House and Senate versions of the budget legislation.

They have argued for a power-sharing arrangement in the 20-20 Senate, but Republicans seem unwilling to relinquish their working majority.

Democrats also want $300 million to buy down tolls on infrastructure projects in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads — the letter doesn’t specifically mention the Midtown/Downtown tunnel improvement project, but appears to reference it.

Their demands also include an amendment to the mandatory pre-abortion ultrasound bill to specify that the state or private insurance will pick up the tab for the scan; restoration of $455,000 for teen pregnancy prevention programs; and millions more in public education funding.

And the party wants a payment to the University of Virginia for the $576,000 in legal fees it incurred defending itself against Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s pursuit of climate change research records; money for poison control centers; and funding for subsidized health-care treatment for certain elderly and low-income Virginians.

That list of particulars come as the standoff over the budget that covers the two-year period beginning July 1 extends into the closing days of the legislative session.

Republicans, including McDonnell, have accused the Senate Democrats of using the stalemate to gain political power and urged them to come to the bargaining table.

And while budget talks began Tuesday, the Senate still hasn’t passed a budget bill over which formal negotiations can be held.

Meanwhile, a growing number of interested parties are ratcheting up pressure on lawmakers to pass a two-year budget.

Representatives of Virginia counties Tuesday appealed to members of the evenly divided state Senate to resolve the partisan rifts so negotiations can occur.

Localities rely on state funding, so budget uncertainty could impede their efforts to develop their own budgets this spring.

In addition, a variety of business groups, including the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, appeared in the capitol Wednesday to press lawmakers to adopt a budget.

Those groups say inaction could damage the state’s pro-business reputation and jeopardize its prized credit rating.

-Julian Walker, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot