Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
``We don't want to be annexed by Bedford,'' said Sen. Virgil Goode, a Democrat from Rocky Mount in neighboring Franklin County.
Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, derided the amendment as ``meaningless'' because the merged city would be so large that it could never justify acquiring more turf.
``It's absolutely beyond comprehension,'' Andrews said.
But Sen. Charles Hawkins, R-Chatham, noted that Indians living in Virginia probably thought the same thing when Europeans set up a tiny little colony at Jamestown.
The Senate approved the amendment by a voice vote before sending the measure back to the House, which had approved it without an annexation clause.
The Bedford merger bill clears the way for city and county residents to go to the polls in November for a novel merger referendum. The plan would give the existing county status as a city and transform the current city into a ``shire'' that would have many of the same powers of the existing city.
In other action:
The Senate approved a controversial bill that would grant companies immunity from state enforcement action if they voluntarily disclose pollution problems.
The bill, which has been approved by the House, now goes to Gov. George Allen, who has said he would sign it.
Industry groups say immunity gives companies an incentive to conduct voluntary environmental audits without fear that the information will be used against them.
A bill requiring parental notification when an unmarried minor seeks an abortion was killed by the Senate Education and Health Committee, but an abortion-rights advocate said she expects the measure to be revived.
``The governor may send down a bill,'' said Judy Castleman of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. ``I would be shocked if he did not.''
Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said no decision has been made.
There was little debate before the Senate committee voted 9-6 to kill the bill.
Last year, the General Assembly passed a parental notification bill for the first time. Allen vetoed the bill - which was similar to this year's version - because he opposed a provision allowing a step-parent or adult sibling to be notified instead of a parent.
A measure that would bar casino companies from bankrolling political candidates in Virginia fared well - perhaps too well - in the Senate.
Instead of voting against the bill, opponents jumped on the anti-vice bandwagon by broadening the ban to include campaign contributions from beer and wine distributors and tobacco companies.
The bill's original sponsor, Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, said he would either ask the House to strip the amendments or ask that the bill be withdrawn.
The Associated Press provided some information for this report.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
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