ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
State legislators are considering plans to scrap a centuries-old law that protects them from arrest for misdemeanors while the General Assembly is in session.
The issue has been simmering since February, when Del. Robert Nelms was arrested in a Richmond park on charges of indecent exposure.
Nelms, R-Suffolk, invoked the immunity privilege during the legislative session. He used it to avoid trial in April but pleaded guilty in June after he was indicted.
Sen. Charles Waddell, D-Loudoun, has filed a bill for the 1997 legislative session that would repeal legislators' protection from arrest in most cases.
``I think the law is obsolete,'' Waddell said. ``We should be treated much like anybody else.''
But at a meeting Wednesday of a legislative subcommittee considering the issue, some lawmakers said the problem may lie more with understanding the law than the law itself.
``It seems to me what we need to do more than anything else is fix the public perception,'' said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County. ``It needs to be clear that legislators, like everybody else, are not above the common law. If they commit a crime, they're going to be tried.''
Aside from Nelms, two other state employees either escaped or tried to escape punishment this year under the immunity statute.
An aide to Lt. Gov. Don Beyer was stopped driving 73 mph in a 55 mph zone last winter. Police declined to issue a speeding ticket because of the immunity provision.
In the other case, a 24-year-old assistant records clerk in the House of Delegates tried unsuccessfully to get a drunken driving charge dismissed on grounds of legislative immunity.
Cranwell said he was leery of repealing the entire immunity provision because of the need to protect legislators from subpoenas to appear as witnesses in civil cases while the assembly is in session. Without such protection, he said, opponents could prevent key legislators from voting on controversial bills and disrupt the work of the assembly.
But recent abuses could be curbed by making clear to police that they have the right at any time to arrest legislators who commit crimes, he said.
``If the police are confused, maybe we need to clarify it,'' Cranwell said.
The subcommittee will make a recommendation to the General Assembly in January. Waddell, meanwhile, predicted easy passage for his resolution in the Senate, where 23 of 40 senators have signed on as co-patrons.
Repealing the immunity provision would require an amendment to the state constitution, a cumbersome process requiring approval from two separate General Assembly sessions and then a referendum.
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