Following the passage of House Bill 29 and House Bill 30 in the House of Delegates, Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) today designated six delegates to serve as members of the Committee of Conference for the 2010-12 and 2012-14 biennial budgets.
Speaker Howell named Delegates Lacey E. Putney (I-Bedford), M. Kirkland “Kirk” Cox (R-Colonial Heights), Beverly J. Sherwood (R-Frederick), Johnny S. Joannou (D-Portsmouth), S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) and R. Steven “Steve” Landes (R-Augusta) to serve as conferees for the House in negotiations with the Senate to produce a balanced budget as required by the state constitution.
“The budget we passed out of the House yesterday is a structurally sound proposal,” said Speaker Howell. “The entire House Republican Caucus is anxious to see a Senate budget and our experienced leaders are anxious to begin the important work of passing a biennial budget that provides for education funding, long-term fiscal stability and health care priorities.”
Chairman Putney’s 12 years of experience as a conferee is a tremendous asset to the process as we work toward a final budget agreement. Delegates Cox and Joannou were first appointed as budget conferees in 2004. Delegate Sherwood has been a budget conferee since 2007. Delegates Jones and Landes first served as conferees in 2010.
“In light of the Senate’s failure to pass a budget, the experience and insight of our seasoned conferees will be more important than ever during this year’s budget negotiations. I hope that Senate Democrats will engage their Republican colleagues so that we might begin our work on the most important piece of legislation to come before us this year.”
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