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Stuart |
RICHMOND--
Drivers who get a ticket could pay an extra fee to help subsidize gas expenses for local police under a bill from state Sen. Richard Stuart.Stuart's bill would add $10 to the fines charged to ticketed motorists, with the money going back to localities to help cover gas costs. A locality would have to pass an ordinance to levy the fee.
Stuart said he submitted the bill because local police and sheriffs offices were hit hard by last year's high gas prices, along with budget cuts and increasing demands on their services.
"The problem is, in a time like this, the sheriffs offices and some other offices as well are forced to do twice as much work with half as much money. Any time you're in a bad economy their job and responsibilities expand tremendously because you have more crime. They are very short, they're going to have more cuts," Stuart said. "We certainly anticipate that gas may rise again in the very near future. So this is just an effort to try to help them out."
Stuart said that when a police officer writes a citation under a state law, most--95 percent--of the money goes to the state. When an officer cites a driver under a local ordinance, half of the money remains with the locality.
But most citations are for state violations, he said.
Stuart hasn't yet worked out some kinks in the bill--such as how to ensure that 100 percent of the money would be returned to localities, and how to keep it from having to go into a state fund first.
He expects opposition.
"It's fairly simple, [but] I'm sure it's going to be controversial," Stuart said.
His bill has been sent to the Senate's Local Government Committee, where it has not yet been heard.
That's far from the only controversial bill Stuart has.
A Senate Courts of Justice subcommittee this week already killed a bill he had proposed to charge higher fees for filing civil lawsuits.
Stuart said the fees charged for court filings are extremely low, and do not provide enough money to help cover costs of operating courts. It could also help cut down on frivolous suits, he said.
"Our revenues are way down and this is a reasonable way to help generate money for the clerks and the judges, and they're not willing to do it," Stuart said. "The people who are in the court and using the system should be paying for it."
Stuart was upset because his bill was killed after a parade of lobbyists argued that it would burden businesses, such as landlords filing suits to evict tenants.
"I learned yesterday that good public policy has nothing to do with making laws in the state of Virginia. It is terribly frustrating," Stuart said. "It was all about special interest groups yesterday. It had nothing to do with public policy, it was all about special interests. Not what was good for the commonwealth, but what was good for six or seven special interests."
Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
