Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 6, 1995                   TAG: 9502060086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE - TRANSLATED BY THE LAWYERS

The Roanoke Democrat heads the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, which has been assigned to consider so-called ``environmental audit'' legislation.

The industry-backed bill would shield companies that uncover pollution problems through in-house evaluations from civil and criminal liability.

The Virginia Manufacturers Association says the legal protections will give companies an incentive to find and correct problems without fear that the information they collect could be used against them in court.

Environmentalists support the audit concept but say legislation before the General Assembly is so sweeping that polluters would be able to escape punishment simply by ``finding'' the problem themselves.

The bill involves legal issues so arcane that Thomas, a convenience-store owner and avid sportsman, has had to rely on lawyer members of his committee for guidance.

Late Friday afternoon, Thomas tried to weigh the significance of an 11th-hour letter of opposition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

``If we would have had this ... '' said Thomas, whose committee had voted a few hours earlier to send the environmental audit bill to the full House of Delegates.

Thomas said he was not sure if the EPA letter would have made a difference in the committee vote, but he was concerned about giving a fair hearing to both supporters and opponents.

When a reporter asked about the letter, Thomas summoned Danville Del. Whittington Clement, a conservation committee member and sponsor of the bill, to explain the legal arguments raised by the EPA.

Environmentalists praise Thomas for his even-handedness. But they say the trouble he and some other conservation committee members have in analyzing the legal theories of ``privilege'' and ``immunity'' is proof that the audit bill should go instead to the all-lawyer House Courts of Justice Committee.

But Clement said he would oppose such a move when the House considers a Senate version of the audit bill in the next three weeks.

``Courts tends to have a plaintiff's-attorney view of things,'' Clement said. Translation: The courts committee would kill the bill, as it did last year.

State Sen. Virgil Goode had little name recognition in his ill-fated bid for the U.S. Senate last year, but he always could count on a friendly face or two at courthouses across Virginia.

Now Goode is sponsoring legislation to protect the courthouse crowd.

His bill - SB 938 - would make it harder for counties seeking to adopt the county executive form of government to abolish the elected ``constitutional'' offices of treasurer and commissioner of the revenue.

The proposal would require counties to hold a separate referendum in which voters would decide if they want to abolish any of the elected positions.

Southwest Virginia lawmakers were unable to return home last weekend as the General Assembly worked overtime to meet a Tuesday deadline for each house to complete work on its bills.

Thomas has made it back to Roanoke only once since the session began. He has chosen instead to embark on weekend bird-hunting forays in Northern Virginia and the Eastern Shore.

Thomas, who carries a camouflage handkerchief, said he had a heck of a time hunting brant, a species of wild geese, on the Eastern Shore.

``They're the closest thing to indestructible I've ever seen,'' he said. ``I'd hit 'em three times and it didn't faze 'em.''

Southwest Virginia lawmakers stuck to party lines on Gov. George Allen's tax-cut proposals.

In House Finance, Allen's plan was opposed by Democratic Dels. Joseph Johnson of Abingdon, Jackie Stump of Buchanan County and House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County.

In Senate Finance, Sens. Madison Marye of Shawsville, Elliot Schewel of Lynchburg, and Goode voted against the cuts; Republican William Wampler Jr. of Bristol supported the plan.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995