Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 22, 1991 TAG: 9102220706
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
In other General Assembly action Thursday, the House of Delegates passed a weakened version of a bill making it a misdemeanor to recklessly leave a loaded gun within reach of a child under age 15. The House also passed a bill changing land condemnation procedures in Northern Virginia, and the Senate approved legislation regulating surrogate motherhood contracts.
After an emotional debate, the Senate voted 20-18 to kill the House-passed resolution asking Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration.
Sen. Yvonne B. Miller, D-Norfolk, said her brother fighting in the Persian Gulf War "would disown me as his sister if I voted for this resolution. This is a right that is protected by the First Amendment."
Sen. William E. Fears, D-Accomack, said he could not vote for the resolution because he swore to uphold the Constitution when he was in the military.
But Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, said the issue was simply whether the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld flag burning was too broad.
Before voting 70-29 to pass Sen. Moody E. Stallings Jr.'s gun bill, the House amended it to allow prosecution only if an injury occurs. The House also reduced the maximum penalty from a year in jail to a $500 fine.
Stallings, D-Virginia Beach, vowed to fight the changes in conference committee, where a similar measure he sponsored died on the last day of the 1990 session.
Charles H. Cunningham of the National Rifle Association, which opposed Stallings' bill, said he supports the measure with the House changes.
Two motions to kill the bill by returning it to committee failed, as did amendments that would have required adults to keep children away from matches, poisons, stairs and swimming pools.
"I appreciate all the help on this bill," said Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach. "But some of you obviously want to help this bill into oblivion. Children are going to die because we sit here and play silly little games with matches and swimming pools."
Most of the debate focused on the penalty and whether an offender should be prosecuted if a child's access to a gun causes no harm.
"If you're going to make this a jailable offense, you should require that an injury occur," said Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk.
But after adopting Robinson's amendment adding the injury requirement, the House removed the jail term.
The House voted 57-40 to pass a bill establishing a two-year experiment in which juries of landowners chosen at random would decide property values when the state seizes land for highway construction. Such juries are now selected from a court-approved list of real estate experts.
Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. cast the deciding vote as the Senate approved the surrogate motherhood contract bill 19-18. The Senate had narrowly defeated a nearly identical bill a few weeks ago.
Sen. Thomas J. Michie Jr., D-Albemarle, said the bill protects the rights of the surrogate mother and the couple who raise the child.
Sen. Robert E. Russell, R-Chesterfield, opposed the bill. He said it would allow the surrogate mother to get an abortion through the sixth month of pregnancy if she changed her mind about the contract.
Beyer decided another key issue when he ruled a proposed parental consent abortion amendment was improper.
by CNB