The state Senate has rejected for the year efforts to force insurance companies to pay for treatment for children with autism.
The emotionally fraught measure, Senate Bill 1260 by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier, had been watered down. She initially sought mandated coverage through age 21, but it was slashed to age 6 by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.
Another blow to the bill came when the Senate Finance Committee tacked on language that said if the state couldn't find the money, it would not provide coverage for government workers.
That angered Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach. Saying it was unfair to exclude public employees, while requiring benefits for private-sector workers, he said, "We ought to have the guts to go into our own budget and find the bucks for it."
Rather than put the bill to vote last night, senators instead buried it on a parliamentary move, returning the measure to the Finance Committee, which no longer can consider Senate-written legislation.
"The legislative process is an ugly process, and this has been particularly ugly," said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, who proposed sending the bill back to the money panel.
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