RICHMOND, Va. -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine wants to expand state employee health benefits to qualified adults, including same-sex partners.
On his final "Ask the Governor" radio show yesterday on WRVA (1140 AM), Kaine said he had thought about expanding the benefits before but could not get past the added cost. Then someone suggested that those who receive the full benefit pay the full cost to the state.
Kaine said he does not have an estimate of how many people would qualify.
Under the proposal, adults who live in the same house as an insured state employee could be covered. This would include heterosexual and homosexual partners, children and other family members.
Asked about the proposal Thursday, Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell said it was "noble," but he worried about the costs. He said he would not impart any sinister political motive to the proposal coming just weeks before Kaine leaves office.
If the beneficiaries pay 100 percent of the costs, that would be more than current state benefits, in which employees pay 80 percent.
In a light-hearted mood on the radio show, Kaine gave host Jimmy Barrett a shot glass embossed with the state seal. He even broke into song, singing a few bars from the Frank Sinatra classic "My Way."
. . .
Also yesterday, Kaine said he generally was satisfied with a revised investigative report into the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and teachers, then himself.
The revisions, titled "Addendum," show the original investigative panel "did a really good job," Kaine said at a brief news conference.
The revised report found that police did not start looking for a suspect after the first two shootings until 40 minutes later than the original report found. It also determined that some officials notified their own families before informing the rest of the campus.
"We did this correction not because the panel did anything wrong," Kaine said. "I put them under very tight time constraints."
And, he said, the "questions will never go away because the person who committed this horrible crime is gone."
Asked whether some Tech officials should be reprimanded, Kaine said it was not his place to make personnel recommendations.
While praising the revised report at the news conference, Kaine told The Associated Press earlier that the attempt to notify family members before the campus was alerted was "inexcusable."
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
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