Bad laws

Bad laws

Just as there are good and bad lawmakers, there are good *and bad laws. “ At one time the Dillon Rule may have been a useful ^method for Richmond to retain its authority, but that time has *come and gone. If the people of Virginia, particularly the people of the Northern Piedmont, want to regain the power to "make laws, power now withheld by the Dillon Rule, they bought to be given it back. £ The Rappahannock Board of Supervisors this week, anticipating sympathy from the governor about the Dillon Rule, ►passed a resolution stating their support for revoking it. ® The Dillon Rule isn’t the only state law that the governor jpught to be looking at, however. It’s not even the most obliviously unfair. That honor goes to the state’s so-called habitual ^offender statute, whereby those caught driving again after getting their operator’s license revoked for 10 years are sen;tenced to 12 months, or more, in the state penitentiary without parole. * The state came to pass such a law out of the realization "that, collectively, we had to take steps to prevent the tragedies that drunk drivers had inflicted over and over again. Pe>nalties were tightened, permissive and forgiving statutes l were toughened and the public’s awareness was heightened.

Part of that effort became the imprisoning of thousands of -Virginians for behavior that in many ways is a symptom of Itheir alcoholism, not any criminality. T The 12-month minimum is mandatory and the time must •be served in the state prison system, not in county jails. No pother criminal offense carries a mandatory sentence, not even * murder. Gov. Wilder and the General Assembly ought to tone down the habitual offender statute. « Another bad law is the state’s system of appointed school T boards. It once again failed this year, but with Prince William »Democrat David Brickley in the statehouse there’s always “hope. A perfect example of the political elite hoarding power ,^for no good reason, the appointive method is being used by £only one state in the nation: Virginia. The boards ought to •have taxing power as well, because to elect the board then alilow the supervisors to budget them would defeat the purpose. * Those who say that the school boards would not use their ,J>ower responsibly would certainly face a dilemma when it .came to sending their children to public schools. If you trust “ them enough to educate your children, you ought to trust them ®to calculate how much it costs as well. ^ Somehow, the ship of state chuggs away — misguided leg‘ islation, budget troubles and political backbiting ► notwithstanding. Richmond must be doing some things right. V