The Virginia General Assembly must pass a budget by June 16 — not June 30 — to be sure the $74 billion needed to keep state and local agencies afloat is in place in time.
Though the financial year actually ends at midnight on June 30, the administrative processes needed before the governor signs the two-year budget take about two weeks.
“If we don’t have that actual agreement by June 16, I think things get very tight and problematic,” said Richard Brown, director of Virginia’s Department of Planning and Budget.
After the General Assembly’s conferees present and get both houses to pass the amended budget, the revised legislation must be enrolled.
The enrollment process normally takes two weeks, but Brown said his office is prepared to do it in four to five days, “a remarkable feat,” he said.
The governor then has the constitutional right to a seven-day review before passing his amendments back to the assembly.
The legislators would likely take a day to act upon the governor’s recommendations and take the final vote.
“We are at a point where every day matters,” said Kevin Hall, a Kaine spokesman.
If the bill is signed by midnight June 30, there will likely be few problems, said state comptroller David Von Moll.
Virginia’s financial managers already have a streamlined plan to ensure there are no hiccups during the first weeks of fiscal 2007.
But if the bill remains unsigned, the state faces a constitutional showdown between the governor who asserts he can keep services running and the state’s attorney general who said this week the Constitution does not give the governor such powers.
Both houses are scheduled to convene at 5 p.m. Tuesday, a promising move, Hall said.
House Speaker William Howell, R-Fredericksburg, said the drop deadline for the budget is closer to June 19 or June 20.
“We are going to have a budget on time, so all the talk about who can do what will be moot,” he said.
