Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994 TAG: 9401260153
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
House of Delegates and Senate clerks estimated they had received about 2,800 bills and resolutions by the 5 p.m. filing deadline.
As he adjourned the House, Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, announced that last year's record of 2,500 would be broken.
"I knew if we got too many Republicans that would happen," joked House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County.
Republicans hold a modern record of 47 seats in the 100-member House.
Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, predicted "the largest volume of bills we've ever had."
Among the bills were ones to abolish parole, require judges rather than juries to determine sentences, lengthen sentences for repeat offenders and toughen the anti-stalking law.
Gov. George Allen supports abolishing parole and other sentencing reforms, but he wants the bills considered at a special session in the spring.
Other bills would reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grade, require criminal-background checks of school employees and repeal the law requiring schools to provide free textbooks beginning in the fall.
Legislation was filed to require most public colleges and universities to have 75 percent of their students from Virginia and to provide free tuition to combat veterans.
Drivers would be the target of a bill barring motorists who fail to pay fines from getting their vehicle registration renewed. Another bill would allow a driver's license to be suspended until a fine is paid.
Legislators again will be asked to raise the speed limit for trucks on rural interstates from 55 mph to 65 mph.
Several bills would postpone tax breaks proposed in former Gov. Douglas Wilder's 1994-96 budget. Among them is a bill to delay the removal of the sales tax on nonprescription drugs from this year to 1996.
Other tax bills would cut the corporate income tax and raise the sales tax by a penny to pay for programs for the homeless.
Bills were filed to allow Virginians to pay taxes by credit card and to increase the penalty for filing false tax returns from a misdemeanor to a felony.
One proposal would make the state's liquor stores private.
A coalition of anti-drunken driving groups held a news conference to promote legislation clamping down on teens and adults who drive drunk.
The Virginia Coalition Against Drunk Driving is pushing a bill that would require that people arrested for drunken driving have their licenses suspended. The administrative revocation bill has narrowly failed in previous sessions.
The coalition also wants the blood-alcohol level for a drunken-driving conviction lowered from 0.10 to 0.08 and a zero tolerance law for underage drinkers who drive.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB