Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 8, 1992 TAG: 9203080150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Passed a bill to require that unmarried girls under 18 notify a parent or a judge before getting abortions.
Killed a bill to make it a crime to block access to abortion clinics and other health care facilities.\ \ AIDS
Killed a bill to require AIDS testing as a condition of obtaining a marriage license.\ \ ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Passed a bill to permit credit card purchases at state ABC stores but refused to allow purchases by check.
Passed a bill to lower the amount of food a restaurant must sell to retain a mixed beverage license.
Passed a bill to permit the Doe Run Lodge in Patrick County and The Woodberry Inn in Floyd to obtain a mixed-drink license though county voters have refused to approve liquor-by-the-drink.
Killed a bill to establish a pilot program of privately owned liquor stores.\ \ COLLEGES
Passed a $472.4 million borrow-and-build plan for new buildings on college campuses across the state. Voters must approve bonds to raise the money in a November referendum.
Passed a bill to make Christopher Newport College a university.\ \ CREDIT CARDS
Passed a bill to deregulate the credit card industry, permitting banks to charge interest from the time of any purchase and to eliminate grace periods. \ CRIME and COURTS
Passed a bill to permit television and still photography in courtrooms across the state.
Passed a bill to make it a crime to "stalk"or follow someone for the purpose of harming or intimidating them.
Killed a bill to extend the death penalty to cover the murder of a court officer, judge or juror.
Killed a bill to administer the death penalty by lethal injections of drugs as an alternative to electrocution.
Passed a bill to require suspension of the driver's licenses of adults who are convicted of drug offenses.
Killed a bill to permit private firms to build and run prisons for out-of-state convicts.\ \ DAY CARE
Passed a bill to defer to 1994 a series of state day-care regulations that were to take effect this July.\ \ DRUNKEN DRIVING
Killed a bill to permit the pre-trial suspension of the driver's licenses of accused drunken drivers.
Killed a bill to lower the blood-alcohol limit for drivers to 0.08 percent. \ ELECTIONS
Killed a bill to prohibit local elected officials from also holding state elected offices.
Killed efforts to toughen the state's campaign-finance disclosure law by making it apply to local political party committees.
Killed a bill to award Virginia's electoral votes in presidential elections based on the returns in each congressional district. Currently, the statewide winner gets all the state's votes in the Electoral College.\ \ ENVIRONMENT
Passed a bill to consolidate various state anti-pollution agencies into a new Department of Environmental Quality. Actual creation of the department was delayed until next year, however, while the Wilder administration further studies it.
Killed a bill to establish a statewide network of recycling centers.\ \ FISHING and HUNTING
Passed a bill to require sport fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay and other tidal waters to obtain a $7.50 annual license. Ocean fishing would remain unlicensed.
Killed a bill to ban the hunting of swans.\ \ GAMBLING
Passed a bill to permit off-track betting on horse races once a track is opened in Virginia.
Passed a bill to make it illegal to trade in out-of-state lottery tickets in Virginia.
Killed a bill to require disclosure of the purchasers of large blocks of lottery tickets.
Killed a variety of bills to direct portions of lottery profits to local governments or schools.\ \ GUNS
Passed bills to make it a felony to fire a weapon on school grounds or within 1,000 feet of a school and to point or brandish a gun within 1,000 feet of a school.
Passed a bill to require gun purchasers to submit two pieces of identification. Out-of-state gun runners have been obtaining weapons using illegally obtained Virginia driver's licenses for identification.
Killed a bill to limit gun purchasers to one or two buys per month.
Killed a bill to require a three-day waiting period for gun purchases.
Killed a bill to make it illegal to possess assault weapons.\ \ HEALTH CARE
Passed a bill to require that hospitals get the state's permission before acquiring expensive, high-tech equipment such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners.
Killed a Wilder administration bill to tax hospitals, nursing homes and doctors to help meet the rising costs of the state's Medicaid program for the poor.
Killed a bill to require health insurers to offer coverage for the cost of in-vitro fertilization.\
HIGHWAYS
Passed a $443 million borrowing program to finance road-building projects across the state. A bond sale would provide the money and the bonds would be repaid from proceeds of a 2-cents-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax. Voters must approve the bonds and the tax in a November referendum.
Killed a $1 billion roadbuilding/borrowing plan that would have been underwritten by a half-cent increase in the state sales tax.
Passed a bill to raise the speed limit for trucks on rural interstates to 65 mph.\
HOTEL ROANOKE
Passed a bill to permit the use of sales taxes generated by a proposed conference center at Hotel Roanoke for the repayment of bonds used to finance refurbishing of the hotel.\ \ LABOR
Killed an "agency shop" bill to require non-union workers to pay for collective bargaining services provided by unions.\ \ MENTAL HEALTH
Passed a $45.2 million borrowing program to finance new mental health facilities. Voters must approve bonds to raise the money in a November referendum.\ \ PARKS
Passed a $95.4 million borrowing program to finance improvements to state parks. Voters must approve bonds to raise the money in a November referendum. \ REAL ESTATE
Passed a bill aimed at heading off a crisis in the construction industry by providing title insurance firms with extra protection against late-arising claims by subcontractors.\ \ SCHOOLS
Passed a bill to permit local referendums beginning this fall on elected school boards. Board elections could begin in 1995.
Killed a bill to permit teachers' unions to bargain with local governments. \ SMOKING
Killed a bill that would prohibit employers from firing or refusing to hire workers who smoke.
Passed a bill to allow police to issue summonses for violations of the state law regulating smoking in public. The law had been all but unenforceable.\ \ SPENDING
Passed a $28 billion state budget for 1992-94. Legislative adjustments to the budget submitted by Gov. Douglas Wilder provided additional funds for poor schools, state employee and teacher raises and public television, among others.
Passed a state constitutional amendment that would require a "rainy day" fund in future state budgets as a guard against the effects of economic downturns. The amendment will be submitted to state voters in November.\ \ TAXES
Killed a plan to increase state income taxes for Virginians with more than $100,000 per year in taxable income.
Passed a bill to impose the state sales tax on liquor sold at state-run package stores.
Passed a bill to permit Roanoke County and several Northern Virginia counties to impose or increase local cigarette taxes.
Killed several attempts to increase the 2.5-cents-per-pack state cigarette tax.
Passed a bill to defer for two more years the repeal of the sales tax on non-prescription drugs. Repeal had been scheduled for July 1.\ \ TELEPHONES
Killed a bill to create a state registry of people who do not want to receive unsolicited telephone sales calls. Repeated calls to those registered would be illegal.\ \ TOYS
Passed a bill to create a state registry of dangerous toys.\ \ WATER
Passed a compromise bill that gives the state's approval to Virginia Beach's plan to withdraw water from Lake Gaston.
by CNB