A trip back to the General Assembly shows how much, and how little, the legislature has changed in 15 years.

Date published: 2/18/2003

IT'S BEEN 15 years or so since I called Virginia's legislature, the General Assembly, home for a few months each winter.

But as I made the long, bone-chilling walk from the parking garage to the Capitol last Thursday, those years of reporting on the legislature quickly flooded back.

Maybe I should say they came shivering back. I braved it without a topcoat back then as well.

I returned to the assembly for a day to see how things have changed in 15 years.

Some changes were obvious, such as the way Democratic rule had been replaced with Republican majorities in both houses.

Knowing that a one-day visit couldn't possibly give me those insights, I relied heavily on local legislators who'd been there then and are still in office today.

I used my eyes and ears to pick up some simple things that have changed, as well.

To start with, the legislature is filled with dozens and dozens of relative political newcomers.

Way back when, there were legislators who'd put in a dozen or so years on boards of supervisors or city councils, then as many years in the assembly.

Many have been replaced by political greenhorns of sorts, full of ideology but lacking in on-the-job political experience.

At times, these rookies rankle the legislative veterans.

Sen. John Chichester, a longtime Republican leader from Stafford County, put is this way: "A lot of them come in here and start putting their noses in things they shouldn't, or tapping sources of revenue that have been historically saved for things like education or roads. We spend half our time now on the defensive, trying to head things like that off."

Legislators on both sides of the aisle gave Republicans, especially new Speaker of the House Bill Howell of Stafford, high marks for streamlining legislative procedures and playing fair--at least most of the time.

Republican Del. Bobby Orrock of Spotsylvania County pointed out that Democrats get more than one or two members on many key committees, unlike Republicans did in the old days.

Date published: 2/18/2003