RICHMOND--Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine will push for tort reform to dissuade attorneys from filing frivolous malpractice lawsuits.
Kaine, announcing his legislative agenda for the 2005 General Assembly session yesterday, said he will back a bill to require the plaintiff in a malpractice suit to get an expert certification that there's a real chance the doctor did something wrong.
That certification--which could come from anyone certified to give expert testimony--would be based on medical records, and would have to be given before the plaintiff could file a lawsuit.
The high cost of malpractice insurance premiums has driven some doctors, particularly obstetricians, out of practice. Last year Rappahannock General Hospital in Kilmarnock shut its obstetrical unit because the two doctors who worked there closed their practice, unable to afford malpractice insurance.
Obstetricians in other areas of the state have faced similar situations. Malpractice premium costs are not the only culprit. Too-low Medicaid reimbursement rates and other issues also have an affect.
Kaine said he hopes his bill would end "those sort of omnibus malpractice claims where they say everyone is guilty of malpractice and try to sort it out later."
Kaine also plans to support bills to help small businesses pay for employee health insurance, by offering tax credits of $500 per employee for businesses with 50 or fewer employees, and by having the state create purchasing pools for small businesses to buy insurance together.
He said he proposes tying college tuition increases to the inflation rate. Colleges would be able to override that cap only by permission of the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, or if the General Assembly does not fund the schools up to the level prescribed in state law.
Kaine supports a constitutional amendment to "lock up" the Transportation Trust Fund and ensure that money cannot be taken out for other purposes, as lawmakers have done.
"We cannot have a meaningful conversation about transportation needs until we can be sure of what the state already has and be equally certain that it won't be used for anything but transportation," Kaine said.
There are similar proposals in the House of Delegates, and one failed in a Senate committee last year.
"I think this is the year to finally do this," Kaine said.
Kaine also wants to implement a law similar to the "Project Exile" program that levies harsher punishments for crimes involving guns.
Calling it "Juvenile Exile," Kaine said his proposal would allow juvenile judges--his wife is one--to put juvenile offenders in detention facilities the first time they're convicted of having an illegal weapon. Currently, Kaine said, judges cannot commit a juvenile to a facility until the juvenile has been convicted of four misdemeanors or a felony.
"There is no bigger red flag that a child is in serious trouble, or heading toward it, than finding him illegally carrying a gun," Kaine said.
Kaine also wants to send a resolution to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, asking him to use the authority given by Congress to allow Americans to import drugs from Canada.
Kaine said his own parents, who live in Kansas, have begun ordering medication from Canada because it's cheaper.
"Millions of American should have it made legally clear that they're able to do this," he said.
In K-12 education, Kaine is introducing legislation to require annual teacher evaluations, and to bring teacher salaries up to the national average.
Kaine said businesses regularly evaluate their employees annually, and that teachers shouldn't be an exception. Some school districts do annual evaluations, but Kaine wants to make the practice uniform across the state.
Raising teacher salaries to the national average would cost probably $100 million to $300 million, depending on how you calculate the national average, Kaine acknowledged.
"Yes, it is an expensive item," he said.
But he said his agenda is not limited to the 46-day session. Kaine is running for the Democratic nomination for governor this year, and in part this legislative package is a "Kaine for Governor" brochure.
"I want to give people a clear sense of what I think are important priorities for Virginia," he said. "They're definitely things you would see me promote as governor."
Other proposals in Kaine's agenda:
Funding a new university in Southside
Fully restoring funding for the state's small business incubator program
Providing money for the state police to hire more road troopers so specialists--such as those with tactical, canine and scuba training--can be full-time specialists and don't have to spend time on road patrol.
To reach CHELYEN DAVIS: 804/782-9362 cdavis@freelancestar.com