THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407300270
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Virginia legislators favor tough crime legislation, but they are divided on whether voting for the $33.2 billion crime bill moving through Congress is the way to obtain it.
A compromise bill, completed Thursday by House and Senate conferees, is expected to move to the floors of both chambers next week, and many observers predict it will win easy approval.
Among Virginia's 13-member Congressional delegation on Friday, five lawmakers said they oppose the bill, four said they support it, two said they had not decided and two did not respond to requests for comment.
The bill's supporters laud the package as a sweeping attack on crime, but some opponents say the bill is not tough enough. Others are alienated by a provision that would ban 19 types of assault weapons.
Sen. Charles S. Robb, a Democrat, favors the bill, which would spend billions for state prisons and crime prevention.
``It's a bill that puts money where it's needed,'' said Robb's spokeswoman, Peggy Wilhide.
The bill also would authorize putting 100,000 more police officers on the street, make about 60 additional crimes subject to the death penalty and send some third-time felons to prison for life.
One of the bill's biggest advocates in the Virginia delegation is Rep. James Moran, D-8th. Moran introduced amendments to the bill that would prohibit state motor vehicle departments from disclosing, without authorization, personal information about license holders to anyone who pays a nominal fee.
Rep. Leslie Byrne, D-11th, said she wants to read the conference committee report on the bill when it is released in a few days but she was pleased that the bill's ban on assault-style firearms survived.
``I think the compromise is a good one,'' she said. ``And I will vote for it.''
But Reps. Owen Pickett, Thomas Bliley and Rick Boucher all oppose the bill, largely because of the assault-weapons ban.
``He favors most of the provisions in the bill,'' said Morris Rowe, a spokesman for Pickett, D-2nd. ``But he has a problem with gun control. He will not vote for any gun control.''
``By and large it is a step forward,'' said Boucher, D-9th. But, ``I do not favor gun control.''
Bliley, R-7th, also is concerned that the bill is not tough enough on repeat offenders, said spokesman Charles Boesel. Bliley will take a close look at the final report, but, ``if it doesn't change, he probably will vote against it,'' Boesel said.
Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd, said he will not vote for the bill for several reasons. Scott and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus had pushed for a provision that would allow inmates to use statistics to challenge capital punishment as racially biased. That provision stalled in the conference committee, and negotiators agreed to delete it.
Scott said he might have supported the bill if the so-called ``racial justice'' provision were included. But without it, the bill ``is just too far out of balance,'' Scott said.
Scott also said the bill focuses too much on punishment, rather than crime prevention.
Bob Goodlatte, R-6th, does not support the bill because ``it's just chocked full of social spending,'' his chief of staff, Tim Phillips, said.
Rep. Herbert H. Bateman, R-1st, said he expects to vote for the bill, though he'll check the conference committee report to ensure that some new, objectionable provision has not been inserted.
Republican Sen. John Warner and Rep. Norman Sisisky, D-4th, said they are waiting to review the committee report before deciding.
KEYWORDS: CRIME BILL by CNB