Evening star., 1950-02-27
Rent Decontro| Law
In Virginia Awaiting
Technical Chances
By a stoff corresnond.nt AZ IL. s,o,

RICHMOND. Feb. 27.-The Vir-
ginia rent decontrol bill, now
awaiting Gov. Battles signature,
was one of three methods of get
ting the State out from under
Federal regulations. i.
The Federal Housing and Rent
Act permits States to lift con-
trolls in the following manner:
l. When the Governor informs
the Federal housing expediter
that the Legislature has ade-
quately provided for controls.
2. If any State by law declares
that Federal rent control is no
longer necessary in such State or
any part thereof" This is what
Virginia is doing.
3. II the governing body of any
incorporated city, town or village
passes resultion to lift controls
after a public hearing. (There is
no provision for the governing
bodies of counties to get out by
this method.)
Date Changed.
The second course being fol-
lowed resulted in the adoption of
an unusual procedure by the Cen
eral Assembly. This was because
the housing expediter must ter
inmate controls on the 18th day
after being notified of the legisla-
lures action.
The bill originally set June Is
as the effective date of the law.
This is only five days before the
present Federal act is due to ex-
pire.
The Senate amended the bill to
move the effective date back to
June 10 so that there would be no
doubt about the housing expediter
receiving Is days notice before the
present law expires.
Otherwise, skeptical legislators
believe, the housing expeditor
would have been officially notified
June rs and it would have been
July 10 before he would have had
to lift controls if Congress votes
to extend the rent law. The feel
ing here was that Virginia might
be caught" in some technicality
OF new Federal law which would
make the States action ineffec-
tive. .-...
There will be delay before the
Governor can sign the bill. This
is why:
The House passed the bill
e exempting Northern Virginia
areas and changed the title ac-
cordingly. The Senate amended
the House bill by deleting the
Northern Virginia exemptions but
neglected to amend the it'll to
conform to the new version.
When the bill was returned to
the House another attempt was
made to exempt Northern Vir-
ginia but Speaker E. Blackburn
Moore ruled this out of order. He
also ruled that the House could
not amend the defective title
which. in itself, makes the act
illegal.
Speaker Moore indicated that
the only way the matter could be
rectified was for the House to
pass the Illegal" version and
let the Governor send it back with
recommendations to amend the
title. The House, as well as the
Senate, then could act, he said.
When bills are passed here, they
are sent to Baltimore where a
private firm has a contract to
enroll them. They then are re-
turned, signed by the House
speaker and president of the Sen
ate and are officially transmitted
to the Governor.
When the illegal" bill gets back
from Baltimore Gov. Battle, pre-
Sumably, will not sign it because
it Is known to be faulty. He is
expected to send it back with a |
suggested title amendment. The
dill then would be amended
again, sent to Baltimore, and
then returned for all officials to
sign, possibly at the end of this
week or next.