ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997 TAG: 9701100091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE, WARREN FISKE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Shawsville Democrat wants to raise cigarette taxes 10 cents a pack and start taxing cigars and smokeless tobacco to raise $60 million a year for the state budget.
But smokers needn't start squirreling away dimes in anticipation of state Sen. Madison Marye's proposed increase. Even he doesn't think it will ever come to be.
The 24-year senate veteran, a former Chesterfield smoker, kicked cigarettes 30 years ago, but another habit has since developed. "Unfortunately, I seem to have this habit of putting in bills that don't stand much chance of passage,'' he said.
That's not to say that Marye isn't serious about his proposed increase.
A bill he submitted to the General Assembly this week would raise Virginia's cigarette tax 2.5cents a year until 2001. Each increase would mean another $15million in state revenue.
"I'm not trying to disrupt the sale of cigarettes or hurt the tobacco industry,'' Marye said. "I'm a farmer. That's the last thing I'd try to do.
"But I don't think this would disrupt tobacco sales, and we need the money. I think it's the right place to look for a little extra revenue."
At 2.5 cents a pack, Virginia's cigarette tax is the lowest in the country, according to figures provided by the Senate Finance Committee. Washington state has the highest, at 81.5cents. The median around the country is about 31cents per pack.
And cigars and chewing tobacco aren't taxed at all.
"I was astounded to discover that," Marye said.
Among Virginia's neighboring states, Kentucky has the lowest cigarette tax at 3cents; North Carolina charges 5cents; Maryland, 36cents; West Virginia, 17cents; Tennessee, 13cents; and Washington, D.C., 65 cents.
- ROBERT LITTLE
Heroin for medical use?
RICHMOND - Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, proposed legislation Thursday that would end the right of physicians to prescribe and administer heroin as a medicine.
The General Assembly passed a law in 1988 allowing doctors to prescribe heroin to terminally ill cancer patients if the appropriate legislation was passed by the U.S. Congress; Congress never passed such a law.
Woodrum's initiative came a day after Del. Jay Katzen, R-Warrenton, said he will propose legislation repealing a state law that allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for cancer and glaucoma patients.
``I don't think we ought to take a look at the medical use of marijuana without taking a look at heroin,'' Woodrum said.
- Associated Press
Quotes of the day
Sen. Warren Barry, R-Fairfax County, speaking on the Senate floor Thursday about coeducation at Virginia Military Institute:
``Why is it that we continue to insist that we make warriors out of females in this country? [To men] we say that you've got to be an aggressive warrior, but we say this aggressive warrior has to exist in a social slumber party."
Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, in response:
``It was a decision based on reason and the law. It was in the finest tradition of Virginia, the finest tradition of VMI and the finest tradition of the law.''
Noticed and noted
Republican legislators suffered an embarrassing moment Thursday in their effort to establish themselves as the education party in this fall's elections.
About 25 GOP lawmakers appeared at a news conference to promote their back-to-basics education agenda. They even had a fancy acronym for the plan - ASAP. The letters were posted on a big board and, with a bit of fanfare, GOP lawmakers peeled back a cover to reveal what each letter stood for: Academic Improvement; School Safety; Accountability; and no Politics in forming educational policy.
The only problem was that "Accountability" was misspelled. At the end of the news conference, Sen. Jane Woods, R-Fairfax County, scurried to the poster with a pencil and supplied a missing I.
"What do you expect from a bunch of Dan Quayles?" Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw of Fairfax County quipped later.
- WARREN FISKE
What's next
Today is expected to be a light day for legislators, many of whom scoot out of town by afternoon to return to home districts. The Senate convenes at 10 a.m., the House of Delegates at 11 a.m. Next week, committees step up the pace. As one chairman noted, the committees only have three weeks before they must push proposed laws forward to the floors. Monday (1 p.m., House Room D), the Senate Finance and the House Appropriations committees hold a public hearing on the budget.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Marye KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB