IF STATES can be schizophrenic, Virginia is. In the Commonwealth, internet companies build over horse farms and one-time hippies teach the children of Republican politicians. The legislature represents, appropriately, this combination of looking forward and remaining stuck in the past. Some of the General Assembly's latest moves show that Virginians have gotten past the days of "Old Massa," as long-overdue legislation receives broad approval. Other actions indicate a depressing inability to see the 21st century, high-tech millionaire governor be damned.
First, the good news. While Virginia uses the death penalty more than any other state except Texas, last week the Senate committee on Courts of Justice unanimously approved a bill to abolish executions for the mentally retarded. As the bill's chief sponsor Sen. John S. Edwards (D-Roanoke) noted, "People have begun to realize that we don't execute 6-year-olds, so why should we execute someone with the mind of a 6-year-old?" ("Panel OKs death-penalty bill," Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan. 31). The lack of opposition from state attorneys indicates a genuine consensus that such executions particularly are unjust.
The same Senate committee also unanimously passed a bill criminalizing rape within marriage. Currently, Virginia exempts co-habiting spouses accused of forced sexual intercourse from rape, applying the spousal rape law only to couples living apart or if the rapist assaults the victim as well.
Co-sponsor Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Reston) said extending the law against marital rape had been "a very long and very difficult struggle." But Virginia has advanced to the point that no one spoke against the measure, and a Republican attorney general advocated it strongly, calling domestic violence "the last stronghold of unchecked criminal activity in our state" ("Marital rape bill advances," Times-Dispatch, Jan. 30).
Unfortunately, the Senate committee rejected a bill eliminating the requirement that inmates introduce new evidence of their innocence within 21 days of sentencing. Hope remains. The bill failed by a single vote, and last year the General Assembly passed legislation to waive the 21-day rule for DNA evidence.
Sponsor Sen. Henry L. Marsh III (D-Richmond) noted that recanted testimony, for example, could not be introduced under the rule. Some committee members worried that the bill would lead to "frivolous" claims, an absurd fear considering that it merely would have given the conservative Virginia Supreme Court the authority to consider new evidence ("Panel OKs death-penalty bill," Times-Dispatch, Jan. 31).
The legislative action that most clearly demonstrated Virginia's trouble with leaving the past behind was the House of Delegates' vote to send a bill banning open-containers in cars back to committee ("Open container ban falters," Times-Dispatch, Jan. 31). The bill's regression to the House Committee on Courts of Justice strikes two blows. The bill would have helped to prevent drinking and driving by requiring open containers of alcoholic beverages to be stored in the trunk. Moreover, Virginia will have to redirect $12.4 million of federal highway construction money to alcohol education programs if the state fails to pass the law. The state already has lost $12 million in such funds for its stalling.
One lawmaker apparently thought state honor was at stake, and that passing the law would mean that Virginia was a money-grubbing hussy. Del. Robert F. McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach) claimed, "This bill is really about the federal government trying to run the civil and criminal laws of Virginia. We ought not to pass laws based on money from the federal government."
Some people never will realize that the Civil War is over and that the Yankees no longer are trying to rob our fair state of her sovereignty. The federal government just wants Virginians to stop driving around with an open beer in hand. If the House of Delegates cannot figure this out, then Virginia needs the alcohol education programs, starting with one given for the General Assembly. Even one of the bill's sponsors in the Senate, Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City), was convicted last year of driving drunk.
The Assembly has demonstrated some willingness to catch up with the times in its understanding of mental retardation and rape, but needs to push harder for progress on criminal procedure and drunk driving prevention.
(Pallavi Guniganti's column usually appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at pguniganti@cavalierdaily.com.)
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