THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210869
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 145 lines
Concealed weapons permits extended to 5 year in House bill
Gun control advocates lost Thursday as the House approved a bill that would weaken Virginia laws for granting concealed weapons permits.
The bill, approved 72-26, would extend the life of a concealed weapons permit from two to five years. It would allow licenses issued in other states to be valid in Virginia if permit laws in the others states were ``substantially similiar'' to the Old Dominion's.
``This is the Vinnie from Toledo bill,'' groused Del. Clinton A. Woodrum, D-Roanoke, who voted against the legislation. ``It's a loosening of the law, and I'm not altogether pleased with it.''
Efforts to alter the law began in the Senate to comply with new federal requirements that states must pass enabling legislation to use the FBI fingerprint computers for ``non-criminal justice purposes'' such as checking a person's background before issuing a gun permit or offering employment.
The House amendments to expand the bill were sponsored by House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County. Cranwell was supported by a coalition of Republicans and rural Democrats.
The House also watered down another bill banning weapons ``in or around'' public parks and facilities in Richmond.
The legislation was designed to create a ``weapons-free zone'' around teen centers in Richmond, which has the highest murder rate in the state.
The House amended the bill, however, to ban carrying of weapons only inside the centers.
Both bills are different from versions passed earlier this year in the Senate. The two chambers will appoint a conference committee to try to work out a compromise.
ALSO THURSDAY Media access to prisons killed by bill's foes
Virginia's senators killed a bill Thursday that would have forced the Department of Corrections to let reporters back into the state's 43 prisons.
Opponents of the bill maintained that reporters are permitted to talk to prisoners over the telephone. More access than that, they said, is unnecessary and would undermine the authority of the Department of Corrections.
The bill's supporters disagreed.
``You cannot see how prisoners are treated on the telephone,'' said Sen. Yvonne Miller, a Norfolk Democrat.
g1dd21 Yvonne Miller
``We live in a democracy where prisoners have not been declared animals. They are still human beings entitled to certain rights. . . . And although we say people who commit crimes should be punished . . . at no point have we said that we are divorcing them from the human race.''
The bill died on a 26-14 vote.
The Department of Corrections has refused press requests to enter the prisons since 1995.
Charter schools come back briefly, then die
Charter schools - public schools exempted from some regulation in return for high student performance - briefly returned to the General Assembly Thursday before being killed in a parliamentary maneuver.
Tempted by the prospect of millions of federal dollars, the state Senate voted to resurrect charter schools. But the reversal of recent legislative defeats that Democrats engineered for the special schools didn't last long.
A few hours later, the House of Delegates rammed through a motion to set aside the bill for the day. Because Thursday was the last day the Assembly can vote on bills, the action effectively killed the bill.
The final motion to pass the bill by was approved on a 56-43 vote.
``They had that thing greased,'' said Del. Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News. ``It just shows how much massive resistance there is to charter schools.''
House Democrats also struck two other Senate-approved measures. One would have made killing a pregnant woman with the intent to kill her fetus a capital crime. The other would lower the threshold for drug ``kingpins.''
Technicality prohibits compensation for error
Even in extreme situations, it seems, certain rules are unbendable. Christopher Prince spent 15 months in prison for a crime he did not commit, but a technicality in General Assembly rules will prevent him from getting compensation.
The state Senate voted Thursday to strike a bill that would have paid Prince $45,000 because it had not been filed before Jan. 8, the first day of the legislative session.
The slightly retarded man was convicted in 1994 of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony on the testimony of a 12-year-old girl. The girl later recanted. Gov. George Allen pardoned Prince.
Sen. Kevin G. Miller, R-Harrisonburg, had filed a compensation bill before the deadline, but it was killed last month by the Senate Finance Committee.
Several senators who voted against giving Prince, 21, any money said later they didn't remember doing so.
Miller filed a second bill Wednesday and the Senate allowed him to rush it onto the floor without first being considered by committee.
But when the Senate was about to vote on the bill Thursday, Miller said he had made a procedural mistake and asked that the bill be eliminated.
All compensation bills must be filed by the opening date of the session. No exceptions are allowed.
Generic drug company wins support in Senate
A generic drug company with a manufacturing plant under construction in Bedford County beat back a high-priced lobbying effort over sales of blood-thinning medication.
The Senate voted 20-17 to weaken a bill that Barr Laboratories said would discourage sales of a generic form of Coumadin.
The bill was sought by DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals, which holds the patent to Coumadin, which generates an estimated $500 million in sales each year. Barr Laboratories officials say they are on the verge of receiving federal approval for a generic form.
DuPont Merck hired more than a dozen lobbyists, including heavy-hitters W. Thomas Hudson, James C. Roberts and former attorney general Anthony F. Troy.
The company's lobbyists argued that Coumadin is such a sensitive drug that pharmacists should go through an extra layer of approval before switching patients from the brand name to a generic, or vice-versa.
Opponents - led by Lynchburg Sen. Steve Newman - said the bill was nothing more than a bid to save DuPont Merck's monopoly.
The Senate narrowly agreed with Newman's amendment that effectively nullifies the bill unless the Virginia Board of Pharmacy deems the added approval process is necessary.
DuPont Merck - fearing a gubernatorial veto of the original bill - did not contest the amendment in the House of Delegates.
ONTO THE GOVERNOR'S DESK:
Legislation passed by the Senate Thursday and sent to the governor for signature includes:
A bill setting minimum staffing requirements for day care operators was narrowly approved. ``This is one of our most important responsibilities,'' said Sen. Patricia S. Ticer, D-Alexandria. ``It behooves us to care for our youngest children.''
A law granting limited immunity from civil prosecution to teachers who discipline students.
A law making public some of the proceedings of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, which investigates complaints against judges.
A law allowing the Kids Voting program to hold mock elections for children at public voting sites.
A law requiring legislators to disclose gifts valued at more than $100 and to give detailed reports about compensation they get from groups with interests in legislation.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
``Would you be so kind as to let us vote on this bill before we all have a heart attack?''
- Fairfax Sen. Warren Barry, after a long debate about a blood-thinning drug.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997