Posted on 07/16/2007 5:52:36 PM PDT by MosesKnows
July 14, 2007
By Seth McLaughlin
The first paragraph
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has no plans to call a special General Assembly session to consider repealing new fees against bad drivers, despite public outrage, a potential lawsuit and a lawmaker's demand that he do so.
The last paragraph
The governor's office estimated the new law would affect only about 2 percent of Virginians.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I lived in No.Va. in the early 1980s and I remember the constant drumbeat for the need for more roads back then. Well, there are a lot of new roads in No. Va. since I left (for example, the Fairfax County Parkway) and yet the drumbeat for more roads goes on and on. Ive said it before and Ill say it again, every square inch of land in No.Va. could be paved over and the people would still complain about needing more roads.
This abuser fee law is an abomination and violates the 14th amendment. If the General Assembly would do its job and cut unnecessary projects, there would be more than enough money for roads.
Frankly, with all these new taxes and fees that went into effect on July 1, I expect, no DEMAND, that all the roads be perfect. No potholes, no cracks, no backups, no congestion. Thats what we;re paying for, isn't it?
You know it might be time to by that property I've always wanted on the Outer Banks.
It is a shame you didn't have time to read the article.
A rose by any other name.....
or make that a thorn. ;)
Taxes, fines, fees - they’re all additional financial burdens on the taxpayers of Virginia because the General Assembly didn’t do what it should have. They all take money out of the hands of the people and put it in the hands of government.
I’m with you on that one.
>Governor Kaine must feel that this will pass long before he needs to find another job in the state, so he can ignore it, because it will only impact perhaps 2% of the population,<
I disagree. When you have Virginians trying to use THEIR roads, with people from out of state who are using the roads by different rules, you will have more innocent people injured.
The last time I got on I-81, I got behind a slow moving truck. I got in the left lane to pass and some horse’s backside from another state was pushing me with his front bumper. It took me a bit longer to pass the truck, because I stayed at 65, unlike the foreigner behind me.
No, if that were the case one could never rent a car in a different state, or borrow someone's car while out of state.
In my case it wouldn't matter about the plates matching the state on my DL, my car is not registered in my name.
But with all that said, my comment was just plain old fashioned sarcasm :)
i realize rental car plates never match DL’s, but i am serious that cops would check out residential cars with out of state plates to make sure someone wasn’t trying to get around registering bc of the personal property tax. they were on to that scam.
“The other way to look at this is that the good people of Virginia have the Government the elected and, presumably, the Government they want. After all, Kaine has never minced much about his political ideology.”
You realize it was Republican legislature that passed this?
I do not believe that is accurate. The reason that out of state drivers are exempt is that these new fines are not enforced by the Courts (where one would have due process and other rights). They are tacked onto your license, and you have to pay them to renew your license. My understanding is that the enforcement is done through DMV licensure proceedings, so there is no basis to "catch" out of state drivers in this net. The disparate treatment of out of state drivers is really what has most people riled up. As I understand it, going through DMV, rather than the courts, also severely curtailed the drivers' ability to challenge the fines. Bottom line, I think, is that the legislature decided to take enforcement shortcuts to grab this money from an unsympathetic group-- bad drivers-- and didn't count on the backlash from the disparate treatment of Virginia and non-Virginia drivers.
Yes, we realize that a Republican legislature passed this. But their original version applied the fee to all drivers.
Governor Kaine changed the provision to apply to Virginians only.
But, don’t get us wrong. We’re pissed at all of them.
You’re right, Kaine did not line item veto out-of-state drivers.
I can think of only a couple of ways to make the people who use the roads pay for them — the gas tax (really a road user fee) and toll booths.
I know what you mean about the out of state plates and the property tax. Even without such a tax, there were forever stories of cops in Delaware cracking down on the out of state plates, especially in the towns that straddle the MD/DE line.
Yes, he did.
The original version of the bill as it passed the house:
§ 46.2-206.1. Imposition of certain additional fees on certain drivers.
B. The civil remedial fees established by this section shall be assessed on any resident of Virginia operating a motor vehicle on the highways of Virginia, including persons to whom Virginia driver's licenses, commercial driver's licenses, or learner's permits have been issued pursuant to this title; persons operating motor vehicles without licenses or whose license has been revoked or suspended; and persons operating motor vehicles with a license issued by a jurisdiction outside Virginia.
The Governor's amended version:
§ 46.2-206.1. Imposition of certain additional fees on certain drivers.
B. The civil remedial fees established by this section shall be assessed on any resident of Virginia operating a motor vehicle on the highways of Virginia, including persons to whom Virginia driver's licenses, commercial driver's licenses, or learner's permits have been issued pursuant to this title; and persons operating motor vehicles without licenses or whose license has been revoked or suspended.
I ask these questions for the simple fact that the "fees" are attached to the vehicle and paid while tagging the car at DMV.
What is being attempted is the changing behavior (for one).
Given that feaf is a great motivator, the GOV should embrace the new anti-illegal legislation in Prince William County ‘cause (per WaPo) “...Hispanic residents there say a clasp of fear has gripped their community in recent days, as anxiety and confusion over the policies ripple through supermarkets, job sites, hair salons and living rooms.”
"That was kind-of the format of the bill when it reached me and I didn't change that feature," Kaine said in response to a question e-mailed to his monthly show on WRVA in Richmond and the Virginia News Network about the out-of-state exemption.
So it would seem that Governor Kaine is denying responsibility. But I still don't get how they could have enforced these "fees" against out of state drivers, since they had to make them "fees" and not "fines," in order to use the money for road improvements. What a mess....
The point is that the law applies to ALL Virginians who drive. Maybe only 2% of the people will feel the effect of the law, but that doesn’t make it right. Very few people are affected by the laws dealing with murder, theft, abortion, etc., but that doesn’t make them any less of a concern to all of us.
Accomack county has a population of approxiamtely 39,000. On any given day there are more likely more out of state drivers on our roads than there are residents. Our largest town, Chincoteague, has a yearround population of about 4,000 which swells to 10,000 this time of year, and next week for pony penning there will be upwards of 20,000+, and believe me, the majority of them are NOT Virginia drivers.
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