Virginia lawmakers are going back to the grind to finish business they tried to complete, not once, not twice, but now for the third time this year. They will do so when both houses of the General Assembly convene later today and tonight. The state’s ongoing revenue shortfall will necessitate more tough decisions not long after that.
Delegate John O'Bannon says today's work focuses on two areas. The first is about filling judicial vacancies.
“There is one spot on the State Supreme Court, and I think a couple of spots on the court of appeals.”
They will also choose judges for a dozen localities. The second goal is to revise a budget provision. To close a 2.4-billion-dollar revenue shortfall, lawmakers had agreed in September to defer a scheduled increase in general fund contributions for transportation. O’Bannon says that generated concern among the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s bond counsel.
“Because of that concern, we’re simply going to go ahead and put all of those funds into the transportation parts of the budget and we will make up the differences from other places.”
O'Bannon says there will still be one piece of unfinished business.
“I think folks should be aware that there is still about $275 million that will need to be dealt with in the sense of further cuts or reductions that the governor will be presenting to us in December.”
These will be amendments to the existing two-year budget--which lawmakers will vote on during the session that begins in January.