Dueling budgets emerge

The Virginia Senate’s budget also makes restorations to public education and health, while supporting raises for state employees. But it strips McDonnell’s sales-tax diversion in favor of indexing the gas tax to fund transportation maintenance, and offers localities more money to offset increases in their contributions for teachers in the Virginia Retirement System.

Every Democrat on the Finance Committee voted against the Senate spending plan, which was approved 9-6. The vote could herald a power struggle in the 20-20 chamber that could bring the budget process to a standstill.

It takes 21 votes to pass the budget in the Senate and Democrats, still irate over Republicans’ refusal to share power in the chamber, seem willing to use their leverage.

"Democrats feel that should have gotten a better deal out of it," said Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William. "They got no deal at all. That’s the problem."

"They’ve politicized the budget process," said Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan. "This is just hardball politics."

Both proposals go before the full House and Senate this week. Here’s a look at the details: K-12 education The House proposes giving schools an additional $136 million over the biennium, including $106 million to fund inflation costs for non-instructional personnel. The House also allocates $60 million to help with retirement system contributions.

Some programs that McDonnell sought, however, got the ax, including paying testing fees for all 10th graders to take the PSAT.

The Senate recommends an additional $165 million in spending on public education over the governor’s budget to mitigate additional costs to localities resulting from an increase in payments to shore up the Virginia Retirement System.

The money would come from stripping out the governor’s proposal to divert $110 million in general fund sales tax revenue to transportation maintenance and legislation that requires online retailers with bricks and mortar business interests in Virginia to collect the state sales tax.

In fiscal year 2014, public education, which has been cut $1.6 billion since 2008, will still be funded at levels below fiscal year 2007.

Health and human services The House and Senate restore funding to the health safety net, which takes a 50 percent cut in 2014 under the governor’s proposed budget.

The House restores $6.2 million in funding in 2014 for community health centers, free clinics and the Virginia Health Care Foundation and increases Medicaid hospital inpatient payments and nursing home payments.

Committee members also added 250 waiver slots over the biennium to provide community-based care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The House further provides more than $1 million to scrap fee increases for restaurant inspections and community waterworks connections that were included in the governor’s spending plan. Delegates stripped out fees elsewhere in the introduced budget as well.

The Senate budget restores $113 million of cuts in the governor’s proposed budget — most of it to account for inflationary costs incurred by nursing homes and hospitals, the state’s key Medicaid providers.

Roughly $10 million in new spending is added to expand prenatal care and mental-health services. The restored funds come from savings in other state agencies as well as overestimates on the cost of implementing federal health-care reform.

State workers The House and Senate propose giving a 2 percent pay raise to state workers and college faculty.