Times Community Newspapers

The General Assembly -- February 5, = 2003=20

Staff
02/04/2003

DUIs, seat=20 belts

Sen. Bill Mims (R-eastern Loudoun) scored = two=20 victories last week in his efforts to make driving in Virginia = safer.=20

The Senate unanimously passed Mims' bill to increase = penalties for=20 driving under the influence. And the Senate Transportation = Committee=20 passed his bill to make the failure to wear a seat belt a primary=20 offense.

Mims' Senate Bill 1019 would:

Establish a minimum $250 fine for a first-time DUI = conviction.

Increase the minimum fine for a second DUI conviction to = $500.

Establish a $1,000 minimum fine for a third DUI=20 conviction.

Mims' SB 1325 would empower Virginia law = enforcement=20 officers to pull over drivers and ticket them for failure to wear = a seat=20 belt. Currently, motorists cannot be stopped for a seat belt=20 violation.

Del. Joe May (R-western Loudoun) introduced = identical=20 legislation in the House.

-- Karen Lewis,=20 CNS

Tenants' = privacy

Del. Kathy=20 J. Byron (R-Lynchburg) has won House approval for her bill to = amend state=20 law relating to peeping.

House Bill 1594 makes it unlawful = for=20 landlords to secretly peep into or through a window, door or other = enclosure where their tenants live.

"Under current law, if = you have=20 a landlord who's on his property and he's peeping into an = apartment that=20 he's renting to somebody, it's not illegal," said Del. David B. = Albo=20 (R-Springfield).

Byron included a substitute to the bill = saying the=20 landlord or property owner would be responsible if he or she = violated the=20 privacy of the occupant or tenant.

The House unanimously = passed=20 the bill last week. It is scheduled to be heard in the Senate = Courts of=20 Justice Committee this week.

--Capitol News=20 Service

Feds to help pay sniper=20 overtime

The federal government will reimburse = Virginia=20 for nearly 58 percent of the $2.1 million that state and local law = enforcement spent in overtime costs during last fall's sniper=20 investigation, Gov. Mark R. Warner said.

Loudoun County = will=20 receive $18,339 of the $31,809 it spent in overtime expenses. =

"I=20 would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Virginia's senior U.S. = senator, John Warner, and all the members of the Virginia = congressional=20 delegation for working so hard to persuade the Department of = Justice to=20 help Virginia bear the cost of the sniper investigation," Warner=20 said.

State and local law enforcement agencies in Virginia = incurred=20 more than $2.1 million in overtime costs during the investigation = of the=20 sniper attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three others = during a=20 three-week period last October. Under the grants announced last = week,=20 Virginia would receive more than $1.2 million in reimbursement = from the=20 U.S. Department of Justice.

--Capitol News=20 Service

Educators request more = money=20

Nearly 300 parents and educators from across the state = gathered at=20 the Bell Tower on the Capitol grounds to sound an alarm: = Virginia's=20 schools are in trouble and need legislative help -- even if it = means=20 higher taxes.

"Even if they find it taxing to do so, if = they are=20 for education, they need to fund it," said Jean Bankos, president = of the=20 Virginia Education Association, which represents 56,000 teachers = and other=20 school personnel.

The VEA and eight other organizations = have formed=20 the Virginia Education Coalition. The coalition sponsored last = week's=20 rally.

Participants at the rally urged support of several = bills,=20 including scoliosis screening for public school students, = character=20 education, participation in community service and improved access = to=20 health insurance coverage for children.

They also pressed = for=20 higher funding for the Standards of Quality, the basics of = education=20 mandated by the state.

Bankos cited a study by the Joint=20 Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the watchdog agency for = the=20 General Assembly. It found that Virginia ranks 40th in the nation = in state=20 funding for public education.

In addition, although the = Virginia=20 Constitution requires funding for the SOQs, the study found that = the state=20 shortchanges public education by more than $1 billion a=20 year.

--Karen Lewis, = CNS

Illegal=20 aliens in state colleges?

A bill sponsored by = Del. John=20 Reid (R-Henrico) would have prohibited the admission of illegal = immigrants=20 to Virginia's public institutions of higher education. His bill = was tabled=20 last week in the House Education Committee.

Legislation = sponsored=20 by Del. Karen Darner (D-Arlington) would have granted in-state = tuition=20 rates to some undocumented aliens, as long as they met certain = conditions.=20 Her proposal was tabled, too.

Both bills were sent to a = task force=20 created by the governor to study the issue.

Meanwhile, = another bill=20 on the matter is moving forward. Del. Thelma Drake (R-Norfolk) has = proposed denying illegal immigrants in-state tuition. Her bill = passed the=20 House 88-10 last week and is in the Senate Education and Health=20 Committee.

"This bill is a clarification of existing state = law,"=20 Drake said.

But Darner said academically eligible students = should=20 not be barred from attending college even if they are here=20 illegally.

"We are talking about children who came with = their=20 parents to America and really had no option to do otherwise," she=20 said.

The debate comes as Virginia's taxpayer-supported = schools=20 cope with slashed budgets and rising enrollments.

--Ron = Capshaw=20 and Karen Lewis, CNS

Hazing = defined=20

The House has passed a bill that university organizations = across=20 Virginia are closely watching.

The bill defines hazing as=20 recklessly or intentionally endangering the health or safety of a = student=20 for the purpose of initiation for membership in a club, = organization,=20 association, fraternity, sorority or student body. Hazing also = means=20 causing bodily injury, whether or not the injured student = voluntarily=20 participated in the activity.

Del. David B. Albo = (R-Springfield),=20 who sponsored the bill, said no definition of hazing existed -- so = laws=20 against the practice were not enforceable.

Albo said that = under=20 current law, people involved in hazing -- no matter how minor -- = must be=20 expelled from school. His proposal would give school authorities = other=20 options.

The House last week unanimously passed Albo's = bill, HB=20 1617, and sent it to the Senate. The Senate Courts of Justice is = scheduled=20 to consider the proposal this week.

-- Sharon Ramos, = CNS=20

=A9Times=20 Community Newspapers 2003

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