Bacon's Rebellion

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On to the Conferees…

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Now the Transportation Abomination will be considered by the House and Senate conferees. Reconciling the House and Senate bills will be up to the following individuals:

House of Delegates:
Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights)
Morgan Griffin (R- Salem)
Algie Howell, Jr. (D-Norfolk)
Tim Hugo (R- Fairfax)
Chris Jones (R- Suffolk)
Terry Kilgore (R-Scott)

Senate:
Thomas Norment (R- James City)
Philip Puckett (D-Russell)
Ken Stolle (R- Virginia Beach)
Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach)
Martin Williams (R-Newport News)

This comes from the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance:

Given that four of five Senate Conferees and all six House members voted for the House version, it’s probably fair to say odds favor the House version. Yet the fact that the full Senate rejected the House version means work remains to be done if a bill is to pass this year.

Also of note is the fact that architects of the Hampton Roads regional package are on the panel. Northern Virginia was not accorded similar representation.

And this from Garren Shipley at the NV Daily: Sen. Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg, an architect of the compromise, is still predicting that the Senate could still support the GOP package.

Supporting Chichester’s version of the bill is just another way of saying “let me poke my finger in your eye one more time” to the House of Delegates, Norment said. “This vote is easy, man. This is pancakes here. … Voting on the committee report will be the real gut check — because that will be the absolute, last chance to do anything for transportation for the year. When it’s the conference committee or nothing, that’s when you really need to search your souls.

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6 responses to “On to the Conferees…”

  1. nova_middle_man Avatar
    nova_middle_man

    It’s going to be an uphill battle

    Chichester, Potts, Blevins, Hawkins, Watkins, maybe Rerras, maybe Hanger all are against the R compromise plan

    At the same time almost all of the conferres are against the senate plan(s) and for the R compromise plan.

  2. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    Doesn’t it boil down to the numbers in the full Senate?

    Are there enough votes to pass the HOUSE version?

  3. nova_middle_man Avatar
    nova_middle_man

    Yep that’s what I meant Larry

    The votes have been 17-23 so far. With both the maybes on board you are up to 18. Then you need 3 out of the 5 for passage. People keep saying you need a majority for passage aka 20-20 won’t cut it. (Appreciate confirmation on that)

    With the conferres all pretty much on board with the R compromise plan there will be little inertia to change it to get 3 more senators to support it.

    All the senate plans are dead on arrival in the more anti-tax house. Howell had to work very hard to get the R compromise through.

  4. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I “think” you are correct with regard to the Conferee Report… approval process

    Also.. the conferres cannot ADD to the package -right?

    but they could SUBTRACT…

    so this might boil down to what can be subtracted that will end up gaining more votes in the Senate than it loses in the House.

    I think… money to be wagered would have a better chance with a 7-11 lottery than with the success of the conferee process….

    but then strange things do happen..

    I can see … Chichester and Howell shaking hands with shit-eating grins on their faces congratulating each other …..

    ha ha ha….

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I also doubt that a plan which can pass the House floor will get 21 in the Senate, and vice versa. The conference committee could have fairly free rein to look at any option which was part of any version of this bill, but the Senate will not accept a major transfer of General Funds (which is a phantom anyway, as it will disappear in the next economic downturn) and the House will not accept anything that even smells of the gas tax (even a local option 2 percent sales tax in Hampton Roads to match the Metro Tax already in place in NoVa.)

    But I have never accepted the premise of all this maddness — this bill, should it pass, will not save one legislator’s rear end in the next election. Those who are in trouble will still be in trouble, and those who don’t need it will still be okay. Under the cover of this bill this session has done so many other stupid things — the sweetheart bill for Dominion, the sweetheart bill for the payday lenders, anti-illegal immigration bills that are starting to look like a racial auto-de-fe — that the argument for change will be strong. The anti-Republican sentiment that cause the wave in November will remain in place next November as our best and brightest continue to die needlessly in a foreign religious civil war. If the Dems can find enough people who are breathing and clear of criminal records, they have a shot in both chambers.

  6. nova_middle_man Avatar
    nova_middle_man

    We need more Purple House of Reps candidates and more Red Senators

    Which begs of course the larger question

    Is Virginia red like the house or is it more purple like the senate and the 2001 district boundries make the house more red then it “should” be.

    I lean towards purple and look at the senate

    In the senate there are about 8-12 red senators. I don’t know enough about the D side. But say there are 8-12 blue senators. That would leave anywhere from 16 to 24 purple senators. Going to our 25-50-25 R-I-D split give or take. That looks about right.

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