
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994                    TAG: 9406280341 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B10    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940628                                 LENGTH: RICHMOND

ALLEN RESTRICTS USE OF VEHICLES OWNED BY STATE

{LEAD} Gov. George F. Allen on Monday curtailed the use of state-owned vehicles, saying some employees have been using them for personal convenience.

``The people of Virginia have a right to expect the use of state-owned vehicles to be strictly limited to the necessary performance of official business,'' Allen said in an executive order.

{REST} His order forces all agencies to transfer control of their passenger vehicles to a statewide pool, where the commissioner of transportation will reassign them to the agencies. Allen also placed a one-year moratorium on the state's buying or leasing passenger vehicles.

He limited commuting in state-owned vehicles to employees whose job-travel requirements make that ``the only cost-effective or practical alternative.''

State officials appointed by the governor will not be allowed to commute in state-owned vehicles, he said. Exceptions are allowed for the superintendent of state police and those who need to respond to job-related emergencies from their homes, Allen said.

A report prepared for the governor found the state owns 8,071 passenger vehicles, or one for every 11 full-time employees. That doesn't include 10,000 pickups, bulldozers, utility vehicles and dump trucks used for specific purposes.

The report cited three examples of abuse of state-owned vehicles. One employee gave family members rides to work and school; another accumulated 350 miles of personal travel; and another used a state vehicle without authorization to give his son a ride from Lawrenceville to Chesterfield County.

Maintaining the state fleet costs $8 million a year, not including insurance.

Some state workers argue that abuses of state vehicles are rare.

``I use it 100 percent for business purposes,'' said Richard J. Ernst, who has had a state car for 26 years as president of Northern Virginia Community College.

by CNB