Evening star., 1944-01-27
| B
3Bi|Is Affecting
Highway Funds
up for Hearing
Legislators Study
Proposals to Cut
Virginia Auto Fees
By the Associated Press.

----~~~S~~sA
RICHMOND. Va, Jan. 27-Three
bills affecting highway revenue and
the problem Of . bigger bonus for
State employees making less than
1900 q year occupied the attention
|of Virginia legislators today as they
awaited detailed data from the State
controllers ofiice on the fiscal affairs
Of the State.
The highway bills were set for a
public hearing at 3 pm. before the
House Finance Committee. They
are Delegate I. N. Coleman's bill for
Ia fiat IS automobile license, the Nor.
folk delegation bill to cut the auto
mobile license from 40 to 20 cents
per 100 pounds and a scent saso-
line tax bill offered by Delegate r. r.
Baldwin Of Norfolk as q companion
to the license reduction measure.
A Senate Finance Subcommittee
headed by Senator Ralph Daughton
lof Norfolk, was working on the bonus
measure and it was learned that sew
eral plans for floor" under the
bonus of low-salaried employees were
being studied. Gov. Darden recon-
mended a Is per cent bonus on the
f1rst $4,000 of income for State en-
ployes, provided it did not boost
total income above $500 a year.
Had Bill Recommitted.
Senator Daughton had the bill re-
committed after it had once been re-
ported from the Finance Committee
He said 1t should be amended to put
a $500 floor" under the bonus or
employees needing it most would eet
less. "
The Norfolk Senator said his
move had no connection with op-
position to the administration of
the State personnel act, but 1t ap-
peared likely that there might be
some dovetailing anyway. Sena-
tor Andrew Clarke of Arlington
has announced he will ask an in
vestigation Of the merit system.
Department heads have requested
the Senate Finance and House Ap-
preparations Committees to raise
some salaries in the upper brackets
through amendments to the appro-
priation bill. Gov. Darden was re-
ported generally in opposition to
such increases while he felt that
funds were insufficient for general
raises in the lower brackets.
The controllers ONCE was work.
ing at top speed to furnish the
House with a seven-year record of
revenue estimates. expenditures and
surpluses which the delegates asked
yesterday in an effort to find the
answer to multiplying requests for
increased appropriations and con-
f1icting statements about fiscal AZ
fairs.
Brief Sessions Expected.
There was little on the calendars
for the Senate and House sessions
today, and adjournment was ex-
pected within a half hour after
gavels fall.
The House and Senate Joint Com
mittee on Fisheries discussed at
length yesterday the proposed Min
ter bill to provide an annual appro-
priation Of $4,000 for a fisheries
Laboratory at Yorktown. The bill,
presented by Senator William M.
Minter Of Mathews. provides that
the laboratory. to be known as the
Virginia Fisheries Laboratory, be
operated by the College of william
and Mary and the State Commits
sion of Fisheries The work will be
done by the college, which will re-
port its findings to the Fisheries
Commission. Provision also will be
made for the commission to have
some control over the personnel en-
ployed.
The measure also calls for estab-
lishment of an advisory board made
up principally of representatives of
the fish industry.
Senator Lloyd C. Bird Of Rich
mond, who has been working on a
bill similar to the Minter legislation,
Endorsed the bill.