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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995                   TAG: 9503060031
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MORGAN GRIFFITH
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A DEMANDING ASSEMBLY

When I arrived in Richmond I expected a rough session, but I never would have projected that the session would be as demanding and hectic as it was. While many proposals were killed and while the governor's proposals were routinely destroyed by a House intent on bickering and unwilling to do much compromising, I am pleased to report that the majority of the legislation I submitted passed both the House and Senate and is waiting to be signed by the governor.

The following is a legislative wrap-up of what happened to the various bills I introduced:

House Bill 1230 - This bill will make it easier for individuals to transfer their tangible personal property to the loved one they wish to get it without having the need of a lawyer every time they decide to switch the salt and pepper shakers from nephew A to niece B.

House Bill 2313 - The reading law bill prohibits the Board of Bar Examiners from proscribing the period of time for studying under the tutelage of a practicing lawyer in excess of three years. This bill is significant because it re-establishes the legislature's desire that the reading law program be a practical program and that it continue to be part of the Virginia tradition.

House Bill 2255 - This was legislation, passed unopposed, which the state police asked me to present that would assist them in obtaining military property. This bill authorizes the superintendent of state police to apply and accept grants of loans of personal property from the U.S. Department of Defense for use in law enforcement activities by the state police or local law enforcement agencies.

House Bill 1865 - Another type of sexual deviancy will now be illegal in the commonwealth. This bill dealt with bizarre cases of defilement of dead humans and has been added to the grave-robbing statutes of the commonwealth.

House Bill 1866 - This bill which passed both the Senate and the House codified what had been practice for schools in determining applicability of Tuition Assistance Grant programs for students domiciled in Virginia but attending one of Virginia's small private colleges. The schools now have the authority to make those decisions for themselves. The 1994-96 Appropriations Act limits TAG awards to $1,500 per student per year.

House Bills 2462 and 2460 - I introduced two bills which technically were killed in House Courts of Justice Committee in a block of 28 bills that would have required additional monies being spent in order to incarcerate criminals.

The first of those bills died and was never resurrected. This bill would have made it a class 6 felony for a driving under the influence violation which results in the disfiguring, disabling or maiming or another.

The other bill dealt with sexual assault. The sexual assault bill was drafted as a result of a study resolution that I introduced last year regarding sexual predators. This legislation provided that persons convicted twice of felony sex offenses not be eligible for the old age exemption to life imprisonment imposed under either three strikes and you're out or the abolition of parole and increased the punishment for such offenses.

I can now be reached at my Salem law office at 113 East Main St. or by phone at 389-4498 or 268-1928.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

by CNB