Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The measure is intended to encourage businesses to voluntarily report infractions to state environmental regulators, but environmentalists say it would encourage wrongdoing by businesses if early disclosure protects them from prosecution.
The measure cleared the Senate 31-9, and the House gave it preliminary approval on a voice vote. If the House endorses it again today, it will go to a conference committee.
Also Monday, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee advanced bills that would reform the appeals process for death row inmates and that would alert stalking victims when perpetrators are released.
The voluntary environmental assessment bill, backed by Republican Gov. George Allen, would encourage businesses to come forth with any violations they find, said the chief patron in the Senate, Republican Kenneth Stolle of Virginia Beach.
But opponents said the bill gives businesses a shield.
``This can be used to cover up crime. It's just that simple,'' said Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County.
The Senate version gives businesses that comply with the assessments immunity from both criminal and civil prosecution. The House bill gives only civil immunity.
The bill does not affect the federal government's regulatory role.
Patti Jackson, executive director of the James River Association, an environmental protection group, said the bill symbolizes an erosion of state regulation of its natural resources.
She said that while the bill's sponsors argue that it wouldn't help businesses that act in ``bad faith'' when presenting their reports, there are too many loopholes.
``The truth is, to prove bad faith is very difficult,'' Jackson said.|
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee advanced a bill that would reform the appeals process for death row inmates, a move Attorney General Jim Gilmore's office says would speed up executions.
The committee voted 8-4 to endorse a bill that would make the Virginia Supreme Court the primary jurisdiction for habeas corpus appeals by death row inmates. Bill supporters say circuit courts often allow the cases to languish up to five years.
Writs of habeas corpus require that inmates be brought before a court to decide the legality of their punishment.
Changing the law could reduce the time an inmate spends awaiting execution from about nine years to 61/2 years, said Frank Ferguson of the attorney general's office.
But critics say the attorney general is inflating statistics.
Attorney Gerald Zerkin, a board member of the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center, said Virginia has executed a higher percentage of its death-row inmates than any other state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Ferguson said if Zerkin's data is accurate, it's because Virginia has a tighter definition of capital murder than some other states and the state's death row cases are easier to uphold on appeal.
Zerkin also said the state Supreme Court is not prepared to be the primary court to consider capital cases.
``The trial court is the one that knows the case,'' he said.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg, countered that the bill gives the Supreme Court the discretion to remand the case to circuit court if it's ``too awkward for them to deal with.''
Gartlan opposed the measure. He said the committee, because today is the deadline to act on the bill, didn't have adequate time to consider its repercussions.
He said the right of habeas corpus has been guaranteed since the Magna Carta was written and senators shouldn't try to tamper with it without more information.
``It's an outrageous situation,'' he said.
The courts committee also approved a bill that would allow authorities to notify victims if inmates convicted of stalking them are to be released.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, allows police or jail directors to give victims at least 15 days' notice before the inmate is released.
The bill now goes to the Senate floor.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB