Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200234
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
DUI-LICENSE BILL PROGRESSES THROUGH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
An accused drunken driver could lose his driver's license for a week or six months - without a trial - under competing bills that moved down the legislative track Friday.The so-called "administrative revocation" bills have not generated either the publicity or the controversy of similar measures that died last year on the General Assembly's final day.
By handy majorities, the House and Senate quietly passed differing versions of the bills Friday, setting the stage for the differences to be thrashed out next week by a House-Senate conference.
A bill approved 77-16 by the The so-called "administrative revocation" bills have not generated either the publicity or the controversy of similar measures that died last year on the General Assembly's final day. House would allow a driver's license to be suspended immediately for seven days if the person's blood-alcohol level registers 0.10 percent or more after a breath or blood test, or if the person refuses to take a breath test.
A magistrate would issue the suspension when the person is arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The bill also gives the person the right, when arraigned on the drunken-driving charges, to ask the judge to review and overturn the license suspension.
The competing bill, which passed the Senate 27-12, would allow the driver's license to be suspended on arrest for 180 days. But the person could continue driving for 15 days after the arrest under a temporary permit, and in that time could initiate appeals that might allow him to recover the license.
The bill sets up a three-tiered process of appeals through the state Department of Motor Vehicles and ultimately to the local circuit court.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993