Posted by
Magnum, J.D. on Thursday, August 23, 2007 2:08:52 PM
Apparently, my last post got through to Virginia lawmakers (OK, not really . . . but at least I can dream). Some Republican members of the General Assembly will unveil a plan sometime today to change the recent Traffic Tickets of Abominations, a.k.a. the abusive drivers fees. You can check out the article in the Virginia-Pilot for yourself
here.
What's more interesting to me is that we are finally getting some a modicum of honesty on this issue. Consider this passage:
"The fees are a small part of the $1.1 billion transportation plan adopted this year. They could raise an estimated $65 million for road maintenance . . . Kaine and General Assembly leaders fear that a
special session would draw new proposals aimed at changing other parts
of this year’s transportation plan, including new regional authorities
being established in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia." (emphasis added)
Ah, there's the rub. The Governor and the GA realize that they really screwed the pooch on this one, but now they know that in order to fix it they might have to put the whole transportation bill on the line. God forbid that the legislature go back and make additional spending cuts to an already bloated bill!
I will readily acknowledge that transportation is a problem in many parts of this fine Commonwealth. Maintaining roads for the public to use is one of the things that government is supposed to do. However, the answer to that problem is not to make an end run around the Virginia Constitution by labeling something a "fee" when it is really a fine. Furthermore, creating a system that penalizes careful drivers when they do make a rare slip-up, isn't going to make the roads any safer, as Governor Kaine would have us to believe.
What's really going on here is that the General Assembly (GOP and Dems alike) doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to raise taxes or cut spending elsewhere. I just wish our politicians would start calling a spade a spade and be honest with the public. If the necessary work on our roads and highways can't be done legitimately, then, perhaps, all that work is not worth doing in the first place.
UPDATE:
Apparently, even as I was typing this post, the Virginian-Pilot posted a new story here.
"During a news conference, Speaker William
Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate Majority Leader Walter Stosch,
R-Henrico, said they will introduce legislation this winter that would
eliminate the special fees against motorists who fail to report
accidents or are cited for driving without a license. . . . Howell and Stosch called for a graduated
series of reckless driving fines so that drivers who, for example,
traveled 30 miles per hour over the speed limit would receive heavier
fines than those cited for going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit. The Republican leaders said they
want to make the legislation retroactive. Drivers would be reimbursed
for any fines they paid this year that are lowered or abolished next
year."
The changes they've proposed seem to be a half-hearted effort at appeasing the public outcry. They at least pay lip service to the problem of not applying the fines to out-of-state drivers. However, the proposed changes completely ignore what I see as the main problem with this legislation: the Constitution forbids any funds raised by way of a fine from going to anything other than the education fund.
Mr. Speaker and Mr. Majority Leader, take out your pocket copy of the Virginia Constitution (ha!) and take a good long look. Then come back to us with some proposed changes.