The Virginia Senate's Finance Committee easily approved a bill today to begin phasing out the state's car tax.

By Spencer S. Hsu and Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 17, 1998; Page B01

RICHMOND, Feb. 16 – A House of Delegates panel hit a partisan impasse last night over Gov. James S. Gilmore III's plan to phase out the car tax, with House Democratic Leader C. Richard Cranwell angrily warning that the governor risks a month of grim combat if he refuses to compromise.

But GOP lawmakers scored on another front, forcing two new abortion restrictions to the House floor today. Legislators advanced bills that would impose a 24-hour waiting period on women seeking the procedure and ban certain late-term "partial-birth" abortions.

Racing to meet a Tuesday deadline for legislative action, the House also rebuffed Gilmore (R) on the environment, granting preliminary approval to new state regulation of poultry farms that his administration had opposed.

The tax cut deadlock went to the heart of Virginia's debate on Gilmore's $2.8 billion, five-year plan: How much money is enough to pay for eliminating the tax and yet leave other vital state programs intact? And can Virginia accommodate Gilmore's tax cut and a Democratic initiative to lower the state's 4.5 percent sales tax on food?

Late tonight, a House Finance subcommittee deadlocked 6 to 6 and failed to advance Gilmore's plan, as Democrats contended that the plan will force future cuts to key programs. The same party-line vote stymied the Democrats' $300 million food-tax cut, as Republicans accused Democrats of undermining Gilmore's centerpiece initiative.

"Unless they're willing to negotiate and do some things that are fair and reasonable, we're going be in for a real grim last month of the legislature," said Cranwell, of Roanoke. "It will be a tragedy if it did, [but] it is not going to be on my conscience."

Gilmore spokeswoman Lila Young replied, "The governor is happy to look at whatever plan the legislators produce for him as long as it doesn't detract from his program."

House and Senate negotiators will meet again Tuesday morning and must finish committee action on tax bills by midnight. Each house must vote by Friday, although Gilmore can bypass lawmakers and introduce legislation at any time.

The logjam is fueled by partisan politics but has at its core at least one major divide. Democrats say Gilmore is breaking a campaign promise not to push ahead with his plan unless ample state funds are available through revenue growth of at least 6 percent a year.

The governor has countered with an offer to freeze his plan if revenue does not grow by about 4 percent a year – in other words, if the budget does not increase by twice as much as his tax cut will cost.

"This is going to be where the rubber hits the road," said Del. John H. "Jack" Rust, a Fairfax Republican who is one of a dozen lawmakers involved in critical negotiations over "triggers" for when each step of Gilmore's five-year tax cut can be phased in.

"The whole concept of [Gilmore's plan] is you pay for it by growth in state revenue," Rust said. "You want to make sure there's enough revenue so you can go ahead and you don't starve existing state programs."

Democrats say that Gilmore's plan is projected to phase in at a rate that will squeeze out other programs, and they note that the governor already doubled its estimated cost last month, after he was sworn in. In the next three biennial budget cycles, the tax cut will require $493 million (in this year's $40 billion budget), $1.3 billion and $2.1 billion.

Cranwell said, "If you move on, it's elementary, Watson, you're going to have to cut other programs," such as school construction, social services or prison construction.

Democrats also complained that Gilmore was employing hardball tactics as partisan as his predecessor, George Allen, who once urged supporters to shove Democrats' "soft teeth down their whiny throats."

This morning, Gilmore's political action committee spent $600 to rent a single-engine plane to circle Capitol Square trailing a banner reading, "End the Car Tax Now!"

"It seems to me that [Gilmore's rhetoric] is just more of the same," Cranwell said. " 'I'm gonna beat you at the polls. I'm gonna redistrict you.'"

The confrontation came after a day of frenzied, closed-door maneuvering. Before lawmakers broke in frustration, Gilmore had told them that a forecast of higher state revenue would free $75 million to ease a deal. Lawmakers said they might also squeeze $200 million from the budget to free money for Democratic goals to build new schools.

For social conservatives, today was a make-or-break point in the 60-day session made possible by growing GOP clout in both chambers. Although it took 18 years to pass the first major curb on abortion last year – the parental notification requirement for teenage girls – conservatives said recent Republican gains speeded new restrictions.

By margins of 18 to 6 and 16 to 8, the House Courts of Justice Committee approved a ban on a form of late-term abortion in which the fetus is partly delivered and then aborted – what opponents call a "partial-birth" abortion – and legislation that would force women to wait at least 24 hours before having an abortion.

Such measures have been approved by the House before, only to die in a Senate committee, but this year could be different. Senators gave preliminary approval today to a companion partial-birth abortion ban by voice vote, with formal debate set for Tuesday.

The "informed consent" bill is also expected to generate debate later in the session. It would require abortion providers to offer women medical information about abortion and alternatives, by telephone or in person, at least 24 hours before surgery.

In other action, the House voted 58 to 36 to give preliminary approval to a bill to toughen state regulation of poultry farm waste in Virginia waterways. Del. W. Tayloe Murphy Jr. (D-Westmoreland), the bill's sponsor, said poultry waste is the only animal waste not regulated by the state, and it has been linked to degradation of the Chesapeake Bay and last year's Pfiesteria piscicida outbreak in Maryland and North Carolina.

The bill is opposed by Gilmore and the industry, which says new regulation would devastate 1,400 poultry farms.

The Senate also: