Today’s If You Read the Paper is again courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Capital News Service.

Those students are going places, we’ll tell you..

Abortion Regulations Could Close Clinics

By Erica Terrini
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

About 80 percent of Virginia’s clinics that provide first-trimester abortions would close if Gov. Bob McDonnell signs into law a bill that passed the Senate on a tie vote Thursday, abortion rights advocates say.

Senate Bill 924, which passed after Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling broke the Senate’s 20-20 tie, would classify clinics that provide at least five first-trimester abortions per month as hospitals.

The measure would hold such clinics to hospital standards governing “construction, maintenance, operation, staffing, equipping, staff qualifications and training.”

If the bill becomes law, Virginia would be the only state where a patient would have to go to a hospital to receive a first-trimester abortion.

The original draft of the bill, introduced by Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Mechanicsville, would require the Virginia Board of Health to promulgate and enforce standards to ensure “infection prevention, disaster preparedness, and facility security of hospitals, nursing homes, and certified nursing facilities.”

It did not mention abortion clinics.

The House added an amendment to SB 924 by Delegate Kathy Byron, R-Lynchburg. It would require the Board of Health to apply those same standards “to any facility in which five or more first trimester abortions per month are performed.”

Byron said that she has been a long-time supporter of women’s health issues and that she offered her amendment because it would protect women’s health.

She said her amendment was unrelated to the “pro-life vs. pro-choice” debate over abortion rights. That issue, she said, rests with the federal government in Washington, D.C.

“We have had a bill – a safety bill – that Delegate Richard Bell carried this year. And it went over into the Senate from the House and, like any bill that deals with anything remotely close to abortion, the bill died in committee,” Byron said.

“We haven’t been able to get what I consider (to be) a fair vote because that committee is heavily weighted with people that all believe the same (thing).”

Planned Parenthood supporter.

Byron was referring to Bell’s House Bill 1428, which would have required the Board of Health to license and regulate clinics that provide 25 or more first-trimester abortions in any 12-month period.

HB 1428 was approved Jan. 26 on a 66-33 vote in the House of Delegates, where Republicans hold a majority. (Of the 99 delegates, 58 are Republican, 39 are Democratic and two are independent.)

But HB 1428 died in the Senate, where Democrats hold 22 seats and Republicans 18. The Senate Education and Health Committee killed the bill on a 10-5 party-line vote on Feb. 17.

Byron said the regulation of clinics that provide abortions can be “a very emotional issue” for opponents of SB 924 or HB 1428. But she said she believes that the overriding issue is women’s health – not abortion.

“The opponents of the bill are concerned that (the bill is) going to hinder access for women to be able to have abortions – and I disagree with that statement,” she said.

However, according to Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, SB 924 would result in the closure of about 80 percent of Virginia’s clinics that offer abortion services. It has the potential to hinder health care access for women, he said.

“I think we had very good points made on the floor of the Senate both yesterday and today as to why this was unneeded and inappropriate legislation,” Barker said Thursday. Barker also said the bill does not differentiate between medical abortions and surgical abortions.

According to the website of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, medical abortions involve a combination of medications that terminate pregnancy, while surgical abortions require a doctor to surgically terminate a pregnancy.

“There are a number of medical abortions during the early weeks of pregnancy. (Under SB 924) the clinics still have to be licensed as a hospital – even if it’s just a physician office providing medications for medical abortions,” Barker said. “It’s a very significant measure that I certainly expect will be challenged legally.”

He said SB 924 would apply overly strict stands to clinics that offer first-trimester abortions. For example, he said, there is no need for such clinics to meet the physical construction standards for hospitals.

The legislation is “not something done for the safety of the patient – because if it were a patient safety issue, you would do it for everything that involves similar procedures,” Barker said.

In its original form, which did not cover abortion clinics, SB 924 was approved unanimously by the Senate on Feb. 2.

On Feb. 21, the House voted 63-34 to add Byron’s amendment to SB 924. Delegates then passed the overall bill, 67-32.

On Thursday, the Senate took up the House-amended bill. A motion to approve the House amendments tied, 20-20, after Democratic Sens. Phillip

Puckett of Tazewell and Charles Colgan of Manassas joined the 18 Republicans in voting for the bill.

Bolling, a Republican, then broke the tie and voted in favor of SB 924. It now goes to McDonnell, also a Republican. The governor said that if the bill clears an internal legal review, he will sign it. He called the measure a “clinic safety issue.”

The bill sparked intense deliberations among legislators. “It ended up being a 20-20 vote; we don’t have that many of those,” Barker said. “There were a lot of feelings on both sides of the issue.”

While Barker was disappointed, Byron called the vote “a great victory for women.”

“There’s nothing sad about it – I heard someone comment it was sad,” Byron said. “I’ve been sad many times in committee when they killed my bill, so I understand if they feel this is a threat. But I don’t see it as that.”

Resolution Strengthens Property Rights

By Erica Terrini
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

This land is my land — not your land.

Virginians’ private property rights would be more secure under a resolution passed by the General Assembly to restrict the government’s eminent domain powers. The resolution seeks to amend the Virginia Constitution to strengthen property right protections.

Gov. Bob McDonnell said passage of the resolution last week “is a step in the right direction and is a long time coming.”

Regulating property. (Damn good too.)

“For too long, government and certain business interests colluded to make it possible to take the land of one landowner and give it to another, merely for the purpose of increasing tax revenue or employment or for private gain,” the governor said.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 35-5 for House Joint Resolution 693. The following day, the House gave its final approval of the measure, 83-15. If the General Assembly passes the resolution again next year, voters will consider the constitutional amendment in a statewide referendum in 2012.

As a state legislator in 2007, McDonnell sponsored a proposal similar to HJ 693, but it failed.

“Every year since then, the General Assembly and special interests have attempted to chip away at those protections,” McDonnell said. “That is why there was a need to put these very fundamental rights in the Virginia Constitution and protect them from the political whims of future legislatures.”

Just two weeks earlier, the Senate had defeated a motion to consider HJ 693 on a party-line vote, with all 22 Democratic senators opposing the measure.

But last week in the Senate, 17 Democrats joined all 18 Republicans to approve the resolution.

The reversal came after the measure was approved by one-vote margins by both a subcommittee of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee and by the full committee.

HJ 693 was sponsored by Delegate Johnny Joannou, a Democrat from Portsmouth. It would add these words to the state Constitution:

• “The General Assembly shall pass no law whereby private property, the right to which is fundamental, shall be damaged or taken except for public use.”

• “No private property shall be damaged or taken for public use without just compensation to the owner thereof.”

• “No more private property may be taken than necessary to achieve the stated public use.”

• “Just compensation shall be no less than the value of the property taken, business goodwill and access lost, damages to the residue caused by the taking, and damages to adjacent property caused by the taking.”

• “A public service company, public service corporation, or railroad exercises the power of eminent domain for public use when such exercise is for the authorized provision of utility, common carrier, or railroad services.”

• “In all other cases, a taking or damaging of private property is not for public use if the primary use is for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development, except for the elimination of a public nuisance existing on the property.”

• “The condemnor bears the burden of proving that the use is public, without a presumption that it is.”

According to McDonnell, the resolution will ensure that “the cost of taking private property be borne by the public, not the individual property owner.”

“The public at large benefits from the property, and so it should bear the total cost, which includes compensating landowners for loss of profits when businesses are forced to move, and loss of access when property is taken which gave a landowner access to his land,” McDonnell said.

Before the legislative session began, the state’s Republican leadership said it would push for protecting the property rights of Virginians.

This was a priority for McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the Senate and House Republicans, noted Sen. Thomas Norment Jr., R-Williamsburg.

Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Lynchburg, chairman of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus, said the resolution’s passage was a major victory for all Virginians dedicated to ensuring private property rights.

“It is also an important victory for Senate Republicans,” Newman said. “Our persistence and commitment have paid off.”

Legislators see the proposed constitutional amendment as a corrective to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, Conn.

In that case, the court ruled 5-4 that the power of eminent domain could be used to transfer land from one private owner to another to further economic development.

Sen. Emmett Hanger Jr., R- Mount Solon, said the constitutional protections would have the greatest impact on Virginia’s farming communities.

“Even before the Kelo decision made this a national issue, leaders in rural communities and agribusiness were advocating measures to limit eminent domain,” Hanger said. “The passage of this amendment is great news for rural Virginians.”

Virginia Legislators Form Progressive Caucus

By Catherine Leth
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

More than 20 Democrats have joined together to form the Virginia Progressive Caucus. Their agenda includes supporting education and health care and fighting discrimination and global warming.

The caucus consists of 21 legislators – 19 House members, mostly from Northern Virginia and Richmond, and two senators (Donald McEachin of Richmond and Mamie Locke of Hampton). The group hopes to gain members throughout the year.

Formation of the caucus was announced at a press conference Friday.

Speakers at the event said they hope to change the mood of politics in Virginia by embracing modern concepts and overcoming politicians “whose heads have not yet advanced to the 21st century.”

“Virginia can be very slow to change, as we all know,” said Delegate Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria. “We have to keep pace with the times.”

Delegate David Englin, D-Alexandria, said the caucus hopes to combat the “right-wing tide” washing through the General Assembly in recent years.

The conference also focused on catering to the “average citizen.” Legislators said they will work to improve public schools and make universal health care a reality.

“Families across the commonwealth want their legislators to focus on issues that matter to them,” said Delegate Patrick Hope, D-Arlington.

Caucus. (Pic | Alice in Wonderland)

Delegate Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, reprimanded opponents of employee unions and said she joined the Progressive Caucus to promote the issue.

“There is nothing wrong – absolutely nothing wrong – with being part of a union,” Ward said. “All unions want is just a little bit more, so that their families can do a little bit better.”

The caucus was announced a day after the Senate joined the House in passing a bill regulating abortion clinics. That’s a key issue for members of the Progressive Caucus, who support a woman’s right to choose to get an abortion.

“It’s a sad step backwards in the Virginia Senate,” Ebbin said. “Virginia must once again reclaim its future and move forward.”

Caucus members said they plan to help more progressives get elected. Democrats hold 39 of the 100 seats in the House and 22 of the 40 seats in the Senate.

Asked if he thought the Democrats could lose their Senate majority in the next election, McEachin said that possibility exists.

He pegged his opponents with a quote from Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw of Springfield: “We’ll be as fair to the Republicans as they were to us.”

Mothers Will Get Baby’s DNA Sample

By Katherine Coates
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

Virginia hospitals will have to offer new mothers a take-home DNA sample from their baby under a bill approved at the request of the forensic sleuth who inspired the fictional crime fighter, Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

Both chambers of the General Assembly unanimously approved House Bill 1836, sponsored by Delegate John O’Bannon, R-Henrico.

The bill now goes to Gov. Bob McDonnell to be signed into law.

O’Bannon said the bill will give families a way to identify their child if something happens to the youngster.

“I feel it is something important,” O’Bannon said. “It is just a good thing to do.”

The baby’s DNA will come from a blood sample taken during the regular newborn screening.

The blood can be taken from either a stick on the bottom of the infant’s foot or from “cord blood” – the blood taken from the infant’s umbilical cord. The blood then would be put on a blot sheet for the family to take home and keep.

The bill requires hospitals to offer the DNA sample, but that does not mean the mother must say yes. If a mother objects to having the blood sample taken, the hospital will not collect it.

O’Bannon brought the legislation before the General Assembly on behalf of Dr. Marcella Fierro, Virginia’s former chief medical examiner.

Fierro performed autopsies and identifications on people who died in Virginia for 34 years. She was the inspiration for Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the lead character in Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling crime novels.

Fierro said her retirement in 2008 gave her the time she needed to work on passing this legislation. She said the DNA is important because there are few ways to identify young children. Hospitals take footprints from newborns, but Fierro said those can be useless.

“In 34 years as a medical examiner, I have never been able to identify someone from a footprint,” Fierro said.

She also noted that if a child is adopted, the adopted family’s DNA can’t be used to help with identification.

HB 1836 faced some opposition on its journey through the assembly. Fierro said the Virginia Healthcare Association was opposed at first.

The group was concerned about costs and liability if medical complications occurred when a hospital drew an infant’s blood.

Fierro said the sample would cost less than $1, and she dismissed the concerns over liability.

“[Hospitals] have a hundred opportunities a day to kill you with errors, and they don’t. I would trust them 100 percent to take a blood sample,” Fierro said.

The association eventually changed its position and supported the bill.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond, challenged the language of the proposed law, which consists of just 30 words:

“Every hospital providing maternity care shall offer to obtain a sample of blood from an infant born at the hospital and provide that sample to the mother of the infant.”

McEachin suggested that the bill may be unconstitutional because it says “mother.” He proposed an amendment to change that gender-specific word to “known parents.” The amendment was rejected, and McEachin voted in favor of the bill anyway.

O’Bannon said HB 1836 specified mother because the blood sample would be taken right after the child is born while the mother is in the room with the baby.

The only state with a law similar to HB 1836 is Florida, where 41 hospitals offer blood samples.

If the governor signs the bill, Virginia’s law will take effect in July 2012.

Bills Help Veterans Get Health-Care Jobs

By Destiny Shelton
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

Two bills to create health-care job opportunities for veterans have won final approval from the General Assembly and are now headed to Gov. Bob McDonnell for his consideration.

House Bill 2279, proposed by Delegate Mark Keam, D-Vienna, will allow a veteran’s military training to fulfill some of the qualification requirements for emergency medical services personnel in Virginia.

HB 1535, introduced by Delegate Donald Merricks, R-Chatham, will provide similar assistance to veterans seeking certification as occupational therapists, radiologist assistants, nurses and certain other health-care professionals.

Keam and Merricks co-sponsored each other’s bills, along with a bipartisan mix of legislators.

Last week, the Senate joined the House in unanimously approving both measures.

Under the legislation, health-care licensing authorities “may accept relevant practical experience and didactic and clinical components of education and training completed by an applicant during his service as a member of any branch of the armed forces of the United States as evidence of satisfaction of the requirements for certification” in specified professions.

Keam says the legislation is a way for society to show its appreciation to veterans.

The bills’ supporters include the American Legion and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.

Planned Parenthood’s Supporters Rally at VCU

By Fletcher Babb and Jennie Lynn Price
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

Supporters of Planned Parenthood gathered Friday on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University to voice opposition to abortion-clinic regulations passed by the General Assembly and to recent national attacks on the organization.

The rally came the day after the Virginia Senate joined the House of Delegates in passing legislation that would place strict restrictions on the state’s abortion providers, likely causing many clinics to close.

“For the past month, there’s been an all-out assault on women’s reproductive health care, from the fake hoax videos coming from our clinics, to Congress voting last week to defund Title X and Planned Parenthood, to last night’s vote,” said Planned Parenthood employee Courtney Jones.

“It’s an all-out assault on women’s bodies – women’s access to health care – and frankly, we’re not going to put up with it anymore.”

Jones, who helped organize the rally, called the legislation vague and unclear. Planned Parenthood is waiting to see how the Virginia Board of Health handles the situation, she said.

“We’re looking at our legal options at this point,” she said.

Jones said four clinics in the state may be able to meet the new standards. Twenty-one clinics in Virginia now provide abortions.

Rally attendees hoisted bright pink signs, despite the day’s high winds, while speakers shared their positive personal experiences with Planned Parenthood and led the crowd in chants of “our bodies, our lives, our right to decide” and “Virginia legislators, lend an ear, your war on women stops right here.”

Fia Midboe, a student in VCU’s master of social work program, was one of an estimated 60 demonstrators. She said she is disappointed in Virginia.

“It’s hard to live in a state that’s set back 100 years in terms of values,” Midboe said. “It’s also hard to be in a place and see women who you know need these services and are not able to get them anymore because of ridiculous regulations.”

Midboe was particularly concerned about the legislation’s effect on women who have been raped or have experienced other difficult life situations.

“I think Virginians – particularly women and supporters of women’s health – need to band together, coalition-build, need to get loud, need to get frustrated and need to let people know that this is not what we want for ourselves,” Midboe said.

Thursday’s floor debate in the Senate was equally heated.

“This is absurd,” said an angered Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax. “I have not seen a single person I know who supports this bill come in and offer to place the same regulations on colonoscopies, cosmetic surgery, LASIK surgery, cranio-facial surgery – which are every bit as invasive [as abortion].”

Shelley Abrams, executive director of A Capital Women’s Health Clinic in Richmond, said that most of the state’s abortion clinics could buckle under the costs of the new regulations.

The bill would require retrofitting clinics to conform to hospital standards, including full-size waiting rooms and hallways the width of two gurneys.

“We really do see it as politically motivated,” Abrams said. Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, agreed.

“The politicians behind this plan falsely claim they are protecting women’s health, yet their ultimate goal is to make it even more difficult for women to access abortion care in Virginia,” Keene said.

Last August, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal advisory focused on the health regulations in abortion clinics statewide. He said that he would like to see these clinics held to the same standards as large-scale hospitals.

Having passed both House and Senate, the bill awaits the signature of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has publicly supported Cuccinelli’s opinion.

Olivia Gans, the president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, hailed the bill’s passage as “a very common-sense, protective measure.”

Gans highlighted the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell in Philadelphia, whose illegal after-hours abortion clinic made grisly headlines last year.

According to Gans, a Virginia woman was one of Gosnell’s patients who died in what prosecutors called a “house of horrors.”

“Abortion is not a casual experience,” Gans said. “It’s always an invasive procedure. We have evidence that women are dying.”

Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, said his organization applauds the passage of the legislation.

“In our view, the General Assembly decided the abortion industry should no longer be exempt from safety standards that apply to other surgery centers,” he said.

Caruso called the bill an important women’s health measure.

“These are common-sense safety standards that will do a lot to further women’s health and safety,” he said.

Planned Parenthood began in 1916. The organization’s mission is to improve women’s health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies and advance the right and ability of individuals and families to make informed, responsible choices.

Andrea Gomperts, also a VCU social work student, attended Friday’s rally.

“The funding that goes to Planned Parenthood is for health screenings and all the different services they provide that go toward the health and safety of women,” Gomperts said. “If that funding is taken away, women are not going to have the resources that they need.”

Heart Attack Death Rates Plummet

By Alexander Chang
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

Virginia’s overall heart attack mortality rates have decreased for the 10th year in a row, first lady Maureen McDonnell announced as state officials participated in the inaugural “Capitol Feats” walk to promote healthy habits that prevent heart disease.

She said the state’s heart attack mortality rates have fallen by 45 percent from 2000 to 2009.

“Prevention is a key component to fighting heart disease. Maintaining a healthy diet and physically active lifestyle are among several ways to win the battle against one of our greatest health threats,” McDonnell said.

She spoke before her husband, Gov. Bob McDonnell, and members of the General Assembly walked around Capitol Square on Friday. Participants in the event were “demonstrating a commitment to improving their own health and wellness,” the first lady said.

The two biggest contributors to heart disease or strokes are high blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to Virginia Health Commissioner Karen Remley.

Nationwide, she said, “Nearly 68 million adults have high blood pressure, but half do not have it under control. It is important that screening for these conditions become part of our routine health care prevention activities.”
Gov. McDonnell agreed.

“Across the nation, heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases kill more than 800,000 adults each year,” he said. “But in Virginia, our hard work to prevent this disease from taking lives is clearly evident as 1,872 fewer Virginians died from heart attacks this year compared to 2000.”

Graphic Protest Highlights Abortion Debate

By Alexander Chang
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

Inside the Greater Richmond Convention Center, guests in bowties and black dresses mingled, holding wine glasses and smiling in conversation. But outside, a small family protested, holding grisly posters of aborted fetuses.

Tensions ran high at the 2011 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner hosted by the Democratic Party of Virginia on Feb 19, as anti-abortion protesters demonstrated outside the convention center.

“We’re here because the Democratic Party in general supports abortion,” said Caleb Green of the Life and Liberty Ministries. “We’re here to show this is what abortion is. Children are torn apart limb for limb within our culture and society, and we’re not doing anything about it by and large. It’s a call of a nation to repent.”

Green, a self-described evangelical, said he believes that human life begins at conception and that it is immoral to have an abortion at any time during a pregnancy.

“It’s wrong because humans have value and we’re made in the image of God,” Green said. “I’m living according to the laws of God, and God will hold us accountable one day for the breaches of his laws.”

While he continued his speech, Gail Gordon-Donegan, a Democrat attending the party’s annual fundraising dinner, asked if Green supported the death penalty. Green said yes.

Gordon-Donegan responded that Green’s views were inconsistent because prisoners on death row have the same value as other humans.

Abortion rights supporters say opponents like Green want to force their religious views on U.S. society.

“They are trying to impose what they believe is God’s law on all Americans,” Gordon-Donegan said. “The Constitution is very clear.”

“He and I are both Christians, but we don’t believe the same thing because I’m Episcopalian. I believe life begins at first breath. God breathed life into Adam and he was man. So therefore, to me, abortion is not a sin, and it should certainly not be illegal.”

The confrontation outside the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner reflected the divide between “pro-choice” advocates like Gordon-Donegan and “pro-life” supporters like Green.

Last week, that issue continued to play out in the Virginia General Assembly, where legislators approved a bill saying clinics that provide abortions must meet the same standards as hospitals. The requirement may force many such clinics to close.

Dennis Green, Caleb’s father and a street pastor for Life and Liberty Ministries, said the issue is about the sanctity of life – not about politics.

Green said his family would protest at an event being held by Republicans if they supported a woman’s right to seek an abortion.

“There are some who oppose it and some who are in favor of it, but it’s really not often brought out in public,” Green said, holding his graphic poster. “Having a photograph of a baby that has been killed lets the baby speak for itself.”

Virginians Rally to Support Wisconsin Workers

By Catherine Leth
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

Several hundred Virginians rallied on the Capitol lawn Saturday in support of public employees in Wisconsin, who may lose their collective bargaining rights under legislation proposed by that state’s governor, Scott Walker.

Protesters in Wisconsin and across the country have blasted Walker’s attempt to weaken state employees’ right to unionize and negotiate pay.

Richmond’s rally was one of many taking place across the nation.

“The American dream is slipping away for millions of us, and we’re here to say enough is enough,” said Joe Cook of MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group that helped arrange the Richmond event. “It’s time for our government to work for us, and not just corporations and millionaires.”

Speakers said the legislative maneuvers in Wisconsin are part of a nationwide effort by many politicians to diminish the rights of the working class.

Richard Hatch, president of the Central Virginia Labor Federation, linked Walker’s actions to corporate bailouts and the extension of the Bush administration’s tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

“We’ll be happy to work hard, as long as you agree to pay us fairly and treat us well,” Hatch said. “I say we cannot, should not, and will not balance the budget off the backs of the middle class.”

Walker has called his proposal “modest” and has argued that it’s a necessary decision to downsize government during an economic slump.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced support for Walker, noting that leaders sometimes have to make tough calls.

McDonnell himself has proposed that Virginia’s public employees start contributing toward their retirement plans. Susanne Keller, a state employee, said that proposal is part of the attack on workers.

“The fact is the underfunding of the pension system is a result of the General Assembly spending our pension money on other things,” Keller said. “This is part of a national strategy to create resentment and envy among our people and claim cutting benefits is the only solution.”

Rabbi Ben Romer of Congregation Or Ami called Walker’s proposal and McDonnell’s pension plan proposals “moral failures.”

“Those rights are earned; pensions are earned. When you take that, you steal,” Romer said. “When you steal from the poor to give to the rich, when you steal from the worker to give to the corporate greed-head, you violate all religious values.”

Kitty Boitnott, president of the Virginia Education Association, stood in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and spoke out against Virginia’s ban on collective bargaining for public employees.

“The working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of children,” Boitnott said. “Because we have no collective bargaining, Virginia, the seventh wealthiest state in the nation, pays its teachers $5,351 below the national average.”

Supporters said protests across the globe are part of one unified movement. Bill Shafer, a Wisconsin native and Virginia resident, cited a sign in Tahrir Square, Egypt, that read “We support the workers in Wisconsin.”

One attendee cried out in response, “I was there! I saw it!”

J.R. Tolbert of the Sierra Club said the labor, environmental and education communities must join forces to maintain the middle class. He called McDonnell, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Walker a “tornado.”

“The only way we’re going to be able to hold them is for us to lock arms – for us to get out of our issue silos,” Tolbert said. “We must fight back.”

Bill Upgrades Coal Mine Safety

By Alyx Duckett
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

A bill to update Virginia’s Coal Mine Safety Act, making it consistent with federal law and industry standards, is now in the hands of Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Before adjourning last week, the General Assembly sent Senate Bill 1310 to McDonnell to be signed into law.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Tazewell, calls for expanded safety and emergency response plans as well as updated electrical requirements.

The bill addresses air flow in the mines, which is critical to mine safety.

Puckett noted that the bill passed both the House and the Senate without opposition.

“There was really good support for that in the General Assembly,” Puckett said. “We’re all looking for ways to improve safety in our coal mines, and that’s essentially what that bill did.”

He said the bill resulted from the West Virginia coal mining tragedy in April 2010 when 29 miners were killed.

Virginia’s mining codes were examined to see if they contained safety issues that needed updating.

The state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy looked into Virginia’s codes and found some safety issues that did not conform to the Federal Mines Safety Act.

“Given the event in West Virginia, you’re always looking for ways to improve,” Puckett said.

He said the bill “is a significant factor in helping to improve our workplace for coal miners and to improve the safety there.”

House Bill 2471 is companion legislation sponsored by Delegate Charles D. Poindexter, R-Glade Hill. HB 2471 also has been approved unanimously by the House and Senate and sent to the governor for his signature.

An Extra $5 to Get Driver’s License Reinstated

By Alyx Duckett
Capital News Service

RICHMOND

If your driver’s license has been suspended more than once, you soon may have to pay an extra $5 to get it restored.

That’s the effect of two bills that the General Assembly has sent to Gov. Bob McDonnell to be signed into law.

The measures are House Bill 1791, sponsored by Delegate Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, and Senate Bill 1020, sponsored by Phillip Puckett, D-Tazewell.

They would impose a $5 reinstatement fee for people who have multiple driver’s license suspensions or revocations. The $5 would be added to each of the other restoration costs such motorists must pay.

“What they’re doing is charging $5 extra for everything, plus there is a cost for each one of those restorations,” Tata said. “You could end up walking out of there with a $1,000 bill.”

Under existing law, the license reinstatement fee is $30; that amount can be doubled if the violation involved driving while intoxicated or certain other crimes.

In addition, a $40 fee must be paid to the Trauma Center Fund, which covers emergency medical care for victims of automobile accidents.

The extra $5 fee would be tacked on to each of those other fees for administrative costs. All fees must be paid to have a driver’s license restored.

Tata said his bill seeks to impress upon habitual violators that repeated offenses are serious.

“They should get the message,” Tata said. “Obey the law; just do what you’re supposed to do. It doesn’t cost you anymore, and in the end it will save you a lot.

Puckett said the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles is a fee-supported agency. The fees fund DMV’s operations and helps the agency keep its technology current.

“To help DMV with that situation, we activated a $5 fee for anyone who comes in for a reinstatement,” Puckett said.