Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
GENERAL ASSEMBLY WRAPS UP WORK
The 1993 General Assembly completed its work Saturday by passing tough new legislation to deal with drunken drivers, rejecting a $20 million building for the state lottery and forging lesser compromises on a variety of measures that will affect Virginians in other ways.Adjournment at 5:43 p.m. ended a session that drew claims of victory from both Democrats and Republicans, particularly in the House of Delegates. All 100 seats there will be on the line in November's general election.
The Assembly also went home with praise from Gov. Douglas Wilder, who greeted with a touch of nostalgia the end of the final session of his four-year administration.
"We have been successful in what we have sought to achieve," Wilder said in a formal message to lawmakers. "To all those returning next year and those who will accept our legacy, Virginia government will have been much improved."
Not surprisingly, Wilder again was glowing in praise of the Assembly's passage of a handgun-purchase limit that "many believed was impossible . . ."
"You ignored the special interests, followed the people's interests, and enacted a one gun-per-month limit on handgun purchases," he said. "Not long ago, our reputation was one of infamy. Now it is one of courage and foresight. And all of America is proud of us today."
Wilder said his only regrets are the legislature's failure to adopt any ethics reforms and to help ease disparities in state aid to schools.
A bill addressing disparity problems died in an 11th-hour stalemate. Wilder indicated that he might not have signed it anyway because some of the state's most destitute school districts were left out of the measure.
Wilder said he had "no problem with the concept" of the new drunken driving law that was passed on the session's final day. It would permit the automatic suspension for seven days of the driver's license of anyone stopped for drunken driving whose blood-alcohol level registers 0.10 percent or higher on a breath test. Licenses will be taken immediately if the driver refuses to take a breath test.
In either situation, the driver may ask the general district court to review the license suspension during the seven days.
Wilder dismissed concerns of some lawmakers that the bill jeopardizes a person's constitutional right to due process. "I want to show this state is serious about drunk driving," Wilder said.
The governor also noted his support for the $20 million lottery headquarters in downtown Richmond that was dumped with a host of other state building projects when a House-Senate conference reached an impasse Saturday afternoon. Senators opposed to the project, which key delegates promoted as a way to revitalize the area surrounding Capitol Square.
The bill also contained authorization for borrowing to build three new prisons, several state mental health facilities and $2 million for improvements at Kiptopeake State Park on the Eastern Shore.
Wilder said he expects to submit a special request for the projects when the General Assembly returns April 7 to consider gubernatorial vetoes.
While many lawmakers congratulated themselves on the relative ease of the session, House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, was looking ahead.
"This session is not going to impact the quality of anybody's life substantially, in my opinion," he said. "That's not to say we didn't do some important things . . . But I know we've delayed some of the most critical problems of the commonwealth - [school] disparity, transportation projects that are behind by 18 months, space needed for the thousands of new students entering our colleges and universities by the year 2000 and critically overcrowded local jails and prisons.
"There are some big problems out there that need some long-range planning," Cranwell continued.
After Saturday, that task is now left, by and large, to Wilder's successor and future General Assemblies.