Ask any state legislator what the dominant issue will be for the 2010 session beginning Wednesday, and the answer is likely to be the same: the budget.
The General Assembly will spend two months in Richmond, trying to write a new two-year budget that will have about $4 billion less than expected.
Outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine wrote a version of the budget that made about $2 billion in cuts, but then made up the rest with tax increases that Republicans say are non-starters. So they'll have to find other places to shave that $2 billion from state spending.
The budget-writing is done by two committees, so most legislators won't have much say in it until near the end of the session. But the budget will be an undercurrent throughout the session, as bills likely to cost money get killed and legislators submit their own ideas for how to cut state spending.
For state Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, the budget will be so dominant that he might not even submit bills of his own. Houck is the ranking Democrat on the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee and an influential budget negotiator.
"My focus is on budget, budget, budget," Houck said. 'The 2010 session, for me, is damage control, trying to control the amount of damage we do to core state government services."
Kaine's proposed budget makes cuts to education and health safety-net services, both of which Houck said he will try to protect.
But he doesn't expect a session-prolonging fight between Senate Democrats and House Republicans over the tax increases Kaine embedded in that budget.
"I don't believe there will be a fight over the income-tax proposal. I'm not sure that's picking up a lot of support even among some of the Democrats," Houck said.
"It would be different if there was some signal of compromise from the House Republicans and from the governor-elect. What we keep hearing and what they keep announcing is that there will be no tax increases. And you take them at their word. Democrats are beginning to talk about 'This is a non-starter, so what's the use?'"
Other local legislators all said the budget was the biggest issue going into the session, but none of them apart from Houck is on the committees that do most of the budget work.
So far, lawmakers have filed just over 400 bills, but that number will skyrocket in the early days of the session; typically 2,000 or more bills and resolutions are filed.
One theme that seems to be cropping up: bills that are statements against perceived intrusions by the federal government.
There's a bill to exempt Virginia from federal health mandates, and another one memorializing Congress to obey the 10th Amendment, which provides that federal government is limited to only the powers granted in the Constitution.
And Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, has a bill that would exempt from federal interstate commerce laws any goods or services in Virginia that don't cross state lines.
"That's basically pushback on the federal government," Cole said. "The government's gotten too big, too powerful, and the states need to start pushing back."
Cole's other bills include one to allow holders of concealed-carry permits to carry weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol, as well as in churches with permission of the church leader; one to prohibit putting an electronic tracking chip on anyone without written permission; a bill to let the Virginia Railway Express charge higher rates to riders from outside member localities; and a bill that caps the amount VRE member localities are assessed.
Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, also has a long list of bills.
One would raise the filing fee for civil lawsuits, a plan Stuart says will generate about $65 million. Most of the money would go to sheriffs departments, which are expected to suffer layoffs due to state budget cuts.
"Our sheriffs departments are our primary law enforcement in Virginia," Stuart said. "It is extremely important; right now we're looking at 1,700 deputies being lost across Virginia, and we just can't have that."
He said the higher fees also would cut down on "nuisance" lawsuits.
Another bill seeks to fix some remaining problems associated with last year's Melendez-Diaz decision by the Supreme Court, which effectively said that forensic scientists who do the testing for DUI and other cases can be subpoenaed. Stuart said prosecutors are losing cases because in some instances several lab technicians worked on a case and can't all get to court.
He also has a bill to allow those who are on a restricted license, such as people convicted of DUI, to drive to church.
"I just think, Look, who else needs to go to church more than a drunk driver?" Stuart said.
Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, has a bill allowing judges to award compensation to the wronged second (or subsequent) wife in a bigamy case.
He also has a bill to provide more flexibility for schools hiring long-term substitute teachers, and is working on one that would let the Smith Bowman Distillery sell its own products in a visitors center that the company wants to build.
Other issues on which multiple bills have already been filed include:
Cell phone use while driving. Bills have been filed that would ban using a phone while driving unless it is a hands-free device.
Absentee ballots. After some publicized delays in getting ballots to overseas service members, bills have been filed to expand the window for such ballots to be returned, or to restrict the time in which registrars have to send those ballots out.
Payday lending. Efforts in past years to tighten restrictions on payday lenders and title-loan lenders did not reduce the fees those lenders charge as much as opponents of the industries want.
Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com