What's happening at the Capitol today?

What's happening at the Capitol today?

House and Senate budget negotiators will confer again as they try to strike a deal on rival spending plans.

Autism insurance bill rebuffed in House

Another attempt to mandate health insurance for autistic children was turned aside on the House of Delegates floor yesterday.

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, sought to amend a bill that would allow health maintenance organizations to offer to small businesses health insurance that does not mandate insurance coverage, but Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, ruled the amendment was not germane.

"It's coming, sooner rather than later," said Del. Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry. "The problem of autism is hurting our children, hurting our families."

Del. R. Lee Ware Jr., R-Powhatan, whose subcommittee twice defeated legislation to mandate autism coverage, agreed. It is getting closer to passage but not this year, he said.
House approves bill on placing road signs

Compromise legislation to allow signs to be posted in highway median strips is heading to Gov. Bob McDonnell.

The compromise would allow real estate agents to post directions to open houses, while allowing localities to remove the signs.

If a sign is removed illegally from private property, the sign originator would have 10 days to reclaim it. The House passed the bill 92-7.

House of Delegates' tally returns to 100

The House of Delegates broke into applause yesterday when it recorded its first 100-vote total of the session.

A seat in Fairfax County had been unfilled until Wednesday, after Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat, won a special election.

She cast her first votes yesterday.

Car-title regulations clear House panel

Legislation to rein in car-title lenders is advancing in the House.

The House Commerce and Labor Committee voted 21-1 yesterday to send to the House floor Senate Bill 606, which would limit how much the companies could lend and charge borrowers.

Currently the lenders are unregulated, charge more than 300 percent interest, and can repossess a borrower's vehicle if he falls behind on the payments.

The bill already has passed the Senate.

Cap on attorney fees pondered by Senate

Virginia lawmakers desperate for cash to balance the state budget are considering reimposing ironclad caps on the fees court-appointed attorneys can receive for representing indigent defendants.

The General Assembly averted a threatened class-action lawsuit three years ago by increasing the caps and allowing judges to waive the limits altogether when attorneys demonstrate they needed more money to mount a competent defense.

Now, if the state Senate has its way, money for that extra pay will vanish and the lawsuit threat could reappear. It all depends on what happens in budget negotiations as the legislative session lurches toward its scheduled March 13 adjournment.

The Senate version of the proposed two-year state budget wipes out $4.2 million a year for the "fee cap waivers."

The House of Delegates left the waiver funds intact.