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By GEORGE BOWLES
One of the few things on which the members of the 1983 General Assembly seem to agree is that the session at hand will be one of the roughest and possibly one of the most politicized in recent memory.
One reason, as Del. V. Earl Dickinson of Louisa put it, is that this time around the lawmakers will not be passing out many legislative benefits to the people and the localities. For the most part, they will be taking the benefits away. Del. Dickinson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, was, of course, mainly referring to budgetary matters. But the state’s grim fiscal outlook aside, a score of other issues could turn the halls of Mr. Jefferson’s Capitol into a battleground during the weeks ahead.
And the state’s fiscal outlook is indeed grim.
Rising unemployment and high interest rates have combined to generate a projected $305 million shortfall in state revenues for the remaining 18 months of the 1982-84 budget period.
The top item on the session’s agenda will be to find ways to keep the Commonwealth’s books in balance without a tax increase and with as little negative impact as possible on essential state services.
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