The Senate voted 32 to 7 yesterday to bar Virginia teenagers from talking on cell phones while driving. The bill would make it illegal for drivers younger than 18 to make a call while driving, even if they use a hands-free headset.
Senate Bill 966 is sponsored by two Northern Virginia legislators concerned about 18 recent teen fatalities in Washington area car accidents.
Loudon Sen. William C. Mims co-sponsored the bill after a series of Washington area teen fatalities.
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Sens. William C. Mims (R-Loudoun) and James K. "Jay" O'Brien Jr. (R-Fairfax) also pushed legislation in 2001 that limited the number of passengers teenagers can carry, required parents to spend 40 hours teaching children to drive and established a midnight-to-4 a.m. curfew.
If the new bill is passed by the House and signed by Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), police could pull over teenagers they suspect of violating those laws. Under current law, they must observe drivers breaking a road rule like speeding before they can ticket youths for violating teen driving laws.
Some of those who voted against the measure said they worried it would place unfair burdens on police to discern a driver's age.
Term Limits
The on-again, off-again debate over whether Virginia should allow governors to serve two consecutive terms is off again. A House committee voted 15 to 5 yesterday to kill a measure that would have initiated a constitutional change.
Virginia's constitution prohibits a governor from succeeding himself. Warner has said the limitation harms a governor's ability to do long-term planning and robs voters of the chance to pass judgment on the governor's time in office.
Warner had pushed hard for the change in his second year in office, only to lose in a close vote. This year, he called for legislators to agree to a compromise bill before he would work for its passage.
Gubernatorial Cooking
Warner on Thursday joined Herb Mesa, the Energy Chef, and a class of first-graders for a demonstration of healthy cooking and a pitch for the governor's Healthy Virginians program aimed at encouraging state workers to eat better and exercise.
Warner donned a kitchen apron and helped make energy bars with peanut butter and oats, baked sweet potato chips and a chicken dish. He also took a few minutes to explain his program to the squirming crowd.
Warner said he is best at cooking tuna melts but gave no indication of how often he actually cooks. When he was finished, Warner thanked the kids before heading back to the Capitol. "When I talk to a group of legislators, they're not nearly as polite," Warner told them.
Honoring Bats
Virginia's lawmakers have gone "batty," according to Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William).
He and 86 colleagues in the House voted yesterday to declare the Virginia big-eared bat (Plecotus townsendii virginianus) as the official bat of the commonwealth.
The bat joins the cardinal (official bird), the American dogwood (official flower and official tree), the American fox hound (official dog), milk (official beverage), Chesapeake Bay deadrise (official boat) and Chesapecten jeffersonius (official fossil).
Eight House members, including Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), voted against the bat.
Staff writer Michael D. Shear contributed to this report.
