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By ANGIE MUSOLINO
Arundel Newspapers Richmond Bureau
— A House committee Tuesday gave its approval to a controversial bill that would make the use of seat belts mandatory in Virginia.
The House Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation passed the bill 10-5. Dels. Kenneth B. Rollins (R-Fauquier/Loudoun) and Robert T. Andrews (R-Loudoun) were among the committee members who voted for the bill. Del. Raymond R. “Andy” Guest, Jr. (R-Fauquier/Clarke/Rappahannock/Warren), who is also on the committee, was not present.
Del. Samuel J. Glasscock (D-Suffollj), the bill’s chief patron, told committee members that a state seat belt law could save up to 200 lives a year.
“My feeling is that we should enact a law that fits Virginia,” Mr. Glasscock said. “This bill makes sense for our time and it can save an awful lot of tragedy.”
The bill would require that drivers and front seat passengers wear seat belts or face a $25 fine.
River bill clears House
Another bill of Mr. Guest’s, one that would designate a portion of the Rappahannock River a scenic river under the Virginia Scenic Rivers Act, passed in the House, 99-0, Monday.
Mr. Guest added an amendment to the bill last Friday that specifies the designation would only pertain to that portion of the river that flows through Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock and Stafford counties.
Mr. Guest said he wanted to amend the bill to satisfy concerns expressed by officials in Spotsylvannia County that the “upstream restrictions would put a strain on their section of the river.”
Victim impact bill
A bill Sen. William E. Fears (DAccomac) said would “radically change” the state’s criminal sentencing procedure was sent back to a Senate committee Monday.
The bill, introduced by Sen. A. Joe Canada Jr. (R-Virginia Beach), would give victims of crime the opportunity to tell how the experience has affected their lives. The victim would testify after the defendant has been convicted and at the request of the commonwealth’s attorney.
The bill had already been passed on to a final reading by an overwhelming voice vote in the Senate Monday when Mr. Fears asked that the vote be reconsidered.
“We’re radically changing the law of sentencing in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Mr. Fears said. “I don’t like the bill itself. I guess it’s like speaking against motherhood, though.”
He said the statements that would be heard from the victims would be those that could not have been introduced into the trial.
By passing the bill, the legislature would be giving its approval to the use of hearsay evidence in criminal pro
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