Legislative Bulletin February 24, 2023
Friday, February 24, 2023 - 02:59pm
A note to our readers: Although the budget process continues, the General Assembly is winding down this week. The next issue of VML’s Legislative Bulletin on Tuesday, Feb. 28 will include a wrap-up of all the bills we’ve been following and what happened to them.
More information on the budget conference report will be provided once that process concludes.
Stay tuned!
In this issue:
Budget
One step forward and two steps back…Now you’re doing the budget shuffle!
After initial reports of slow and steady progress earlier in the week, it appears that negotiations on the budget have ground to a halt during the last days of the 2023 Session.
It’s probably not that dire, and it isn’t unusual for talks on the budget to slow as decisions become more complex and substantive.
Think about it. Senators and Delegates have been spending countless hours on the floor this week deciding the fate of numerous bills. Member’s bills are being discussed, debated, dissected, and occasionally defeated. These machinations can get under the skin of even seasoned lawmakers, especially in an election year.
Then each evening, after the day’s dust has settled, the budget conferees must sit across the table from one another and make decisions about contentious budget amendments with members from the other chamber that may have had a hand in the fate of their bill. It’s no wonder those conversations become contentious. Indeed, what begins as a congenial square dance can quickly devolve into a mosh pit.
While hopes of adjourning Sine Die on Saturday have faded, it sounds like the budget conferees are inclined to huddle up early next week and begin ironing out their differences. That task should be easier as lawmakers are able to focus their attention on the budget without the distraction of other legislation.
In the meantime, it’s some comfort to remember that conference committees on the budget often arrive at a place best characterized as “the waiting place” from Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. In case you haven’t perused that worthy tome recently, the final line says it best: “Everyone is just waiting.”
Human Services
Still in play – jury per diem increases
House and Senate measures to increase jury per diem rates: HB2317 (Williams Graves) and SB789 (Spruill) are in conference as of this afternoon (Friday, Feb. 24). HB2317 as passed by the House would increase per diem rates from $30 to $50 a day; SB789 as passed by that body would increase the rate from $30 to $100 a day.
There are House and Senate budget amendments being addressed in the budget conference process that reflect the amounts in their chamber’s related bills; unfortunately those budget amendment amounts would cover only the increased cost to the state for criminal trial per diems, but nothing for local governments to cover civil trial per diem costs.
Rates will increase unless there’s a total breakdown in the conference process. VML is supporting the increase to $50, which is in line with the federal per diem rate and also the top rate paid by any other state as of 2022.
VML Contact: Janet Areson, jareson@vml.org
