Elections are over except for the post-mortems. While winners may be tired from strenuous campaigning, there is little time to relax. The deadline for requesting the drafting of pre-filed legislation is Dec. 7. By the middle of December, a $70 billion biennium budget must be ready for the legislature to consider. The annual General Assembly session convenes on Jan. 13, 2010, and will meet for 60 days. As exhausting as election campaigning may have been, it will seem like a cakewalk compared to the challenges of governing the Commonwealth at this time.
The greatest challenge will be adopting a Constitution-required balanced budget for the next two years. While there will be partisan differences over priorities, the basic problem is that there will not be enough money to go around. In a recent issue of The Virginia News Letter from the WeldonCooperCenter for Public Service at the University of Virginia (www.coopercenter.org), independent financial analyst James J. Regimbal Jr. termed Virginia’s state budget “a train wreck about to happen.” According to Regimbal, “in the 2010-12 biennium Virginia’s state budget will experience the full force of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.” The most recent revenue decline is the largest experienced in the past 70 years. The usual budget flexibility has been used up during the current biennium. In spite of all the campaign rhetoric, the actions of governing will require deep cuts and the probable elimination of some services of government.
At the same time the new administration and the General Assembly will be expected to turn the generalities of a campaign transportation plan into the realities of traffic congestion relief. While the simple solution of selling off the ABC stores may net a few hundred million to help with a multibillion dollar problem in one year, it will cost the Commonwealth hundreds of millions of dollars in future years of forgone profits. Public-opinion polls make it clear that Virginians want traffic congestion relief, but they do not want to pay any new taxes to finance it.
One defeated legislator is under federal investigation for allegedly using his position for personal gain. Ethics laws need to be tightened up. The federal census will result in legislative district lines being redrawn. The new governor says he is in favor of a bipartisan approach. Will he be able to convince his House majority to agree to it? The conservative base that greatly influenced the outcome of the election will want some of their social agenda enacted. Jobs need to be created to stem the economic recession. The mentally ill need to be treated. The demand for programs to meet the needs of senior citizens is on the increase. Numerous interest groups have their legislative agendas. Campaigning is hard work for sure, but it is not enough to get one in shape for the Herculean task of governing.
Ken Plum is the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. He represents the 36th District in the House of Delegates.
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