A good bill from the Virginia House to crack down on underage DUI winds up DOA in the Senate.
Sunday, February 24, 2008; B06
WE'VE KNOWN for more than a little while that Virginia's House of Delegates and Senate are two different worlds. But little did we realize how stark the differences could become -- especially over a bill that should have been put on the books with scant dissent. Del. William R. Janis (R-Henrico) thought he had just such a proposal in a bill to strengthen penalties for convicted underage drunk drivers. The bill would have doubled the hardly draconian driver's license suspension period of six months and made the offense a more serious misdemeanor. Mr. Janis's colleagues in both parties in the Republican-controlled House thought it a most worthy measure; it won 96 percent of the votes cast.
As advocates noted, underage drinking and driving continues to be a deadly problem in Virginia. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, alcohol-related traffic fatalities involving teens increased 43 percent in 2006, nearly triple the rate of increase in such fatalities among drivers of all ages in Virginia.
Kurt Gregory Erickson, president of the Virginia-based Washington Regional Alcohol Program, cites a 2005 survey by the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services reporting that 76 percent of Virginia's high school seniors and 64 percent of 10th-graders reported using alcohol. More than one-quarter of the 12th-graders reported consuming five or more drinks in a row during a two-week survey period. Sure, it already is illegal for anyone under 21 to consume alcohol, and no, it was not known how many of these too-young drinkers got behind the wheel afterward; but law enforcement authorities know only too well the additional potential for serious traffic accidents.
Yet none of this mattered in the Democrat-controlled Senate Courts Committee, which failed to report Mr. Janis's bill -- killing it for the legislative session. How many more grim roadside scenes will it take to capture the attention of a callous committee? As the deaths continue, how long will the Virginia Senate remain a legislative graveyard?
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