Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994 TAG: 9403140097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
MONEY
Spend $32 billion in the 1994-96 state budget, which includes raises for state employees and $103 million to combat school disparity.
Issue bonds for road improvements and provide other subsidies for the proposed Disney theme park.
Keep the sales tax on non-prescription drugs.
TRANSPORTATION
Raise the speed limit for heavy trucks on rural interstates from 55 mph to 65 mph.
Require children under age 16 to wear seat belts when riding in the back of pickup trucks on interstate highways.
Bar use of metric measurements on highway signs.
CRIME
Toughen drunken driving laws by requiring an immediate seven-day license suspension upon arrest, lowering the blood-alcohol standard from .10 percent to .08 percent and setting a zero-tolerance standard for drivers under age 21.
Require that juries hear a defendant's criminal background before sentencing in felony cases.
Allow lethal injection as a method of execution.
Require life without parole for a third violent felony conviction.
Require an additional six-month jail term for assault or property crime in which the victim was targeted because of race, religion or national origin.
Create a sex offender registry.
Allow juveniles as young as 14 to be tried as adults for violent crimes.
Eliminate the 10-day statute of limitations on reporting marital rape.
Increase the penalty for willful abuse or neglect of an incapacitated adult.
EDUCATION
Reduce maximum class size in kindergarten through third grade at poor schools.
Set up a tuition trust fund for parents who want to pay in advance for their children to attend state colleges and universities.
Allow student-initiated prayer in public school.
Create a board of teachers, citizens and local school officials to handle teacher licensing now done by the state Board of Education.
HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
Require notification of an adult relative when a girl under age 17 seeks an abortion.
Require insurers to offer coverage of bone marrow transplants for breast cancer patients.
Prohibit smoking in public schools except after school hours.
Require no-smoking areas in large indoor recreational facilities.
Prohibit distribution of free tobacco samples to minors.
Set up a welfare-to-work pilot program.
Require hospitals to seek to identify the father of babies born to unwed mothers.
Allow a judge to suspend business or professional licenses of parents who fall behind in child support payments.
Make clear that breast feeding a baby in public does not violate indecent exposure laws.
\ GOVERNMENT AND ETHICS
Prohibit state officials and legislators from accepting gifts or honorariums worth more than $200.
Bar top state officials and legislators from lobbying for one year after leaving state service.
Require legislators to disclose leases with the state.
Overhaul management of the Virginia Retirement System.
Overhaul state regulation of coal and mineral mine safety.
\ What they killed
The 1994 General Assembly killed bills to:
MONEY
Raise the tax rate on income of $100,000 or more.
Create a $25 income tax credit for families earning less than $50,000 in which one parent stays home with children under age 16.
Remove the cap on interest rates finance companies can charge on small loans.
Return a portion of lottery proceeds to localities.
TRANSPORTATION
Repeal the ban on radar detectors.
Eliminate tolls on the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry.
Eliminate tolls on the Norfolk-Virginia Beach Expressway.
Require persons age 75 or older to renew their driver's license every two years by taking an eye test and a behind-the-wheel test.
Allow motorists to request that their Social Security number not be used as their driver's license number.
Limit trips by vehicles with inspection rejection stickers to the repair shop and inspection station.
Extend the statute of limitations on parking violations from one year to two years.
CRIME
Allow murder victims' relatives to witness executions.
Allow courts to hear new evidence of innocence in capital murder cases.
Allow the death penalty for committing a murder after being convicted of two other violent felonies.
Make it illegal to sell a child a toy gun that could be mistaken for a real firearm.
Abolish parole.
EDUCATION
Allow schools to open before Labor Day.
Require parental notification for psychotherapeutic counseling of public school students.
HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
Require insurers to offer coverage of infertility treatment.
Establish what a doctor must tell a pregnant woman to obtain her "informed consent" for an abortion.
Allow a judge to reduce spousal support payments if the spouse is living with another person.
GOVERNMENT AND ETHICS
Place caps on campaign contributions.
Privatize state liquor stores.
Create a commission to recommend candidates for judgeships.
Limit legislators' terms.
Create a regional government for Richmond and neighboring counties.
Amend the constitution to allow governors to run for re-election.
Require that ballots identify candidates by political party.
Limit the number of bills and resolutions General Assembly members can introduce.
Amend the constitution to impose term limits on Virginia members of Congress and the General Assembly.
Amend the constitution to allow citizen initiative and referendum.
Amend the constitution to require a two-thirds legislative vote to raise sales or income taxes.
Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
OTHER
Allow state and local referendums on riverboat gambling.
Remove references to slavery from the state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB