Yes, Virginia, we have some new laws

Mark Twain famously said, "No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session."

According to that narrow definition, we are all safe in Virginia now that the legislature is out of session. But on Thursday, July 1, many of the acts of the legislature actually take effect. So, we’re not quite out of the woods yet.

Thanks to a bureaucratic peculiarity, the tax increase will not take effect until August 1. It is difficult to guess what the state’s budget surplus will look like by then. In the meantime, yet one more of the rationales for the tax cut has turned out to be a red herring. One local legislator told me back in March that a budget agreement was vitally necessary, to prevent the postponement and cancellation of road projects. The tax increase passed, and road projects around the state are being cancelled anyway.

Some of the new laws will genuinely benefit Virginians. Among the most sweeping changes will be those affecting drunk driving. Most of the new laws came from Del. Bob McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach), who is also a candidate for Attorney General next year. Indeed, had all Republicans stood up to Gov. Mark Warner’s fraud-based pressure for a tax increase, it arguably would have been McDonnell who had the greatest impact on Virginia’s legal code this year.

Starting July 1, repeat offenders for driving under the influence will not have the option of refusing a blood alcohol test after being stopped by the police. New laws also make it more likely that those who drive drunk will be spending time in jail.

Driving with a blood alcohol level of .15, which is less than double the legal limit, will mean an automatic five days in jail. Should police find that the driver’s level is as high as .20, he or she will spend 10 days in jail. Should someone in Virginia be convicted of three DUI offenses in five years or less, a new law mandates a six-month jail sentence. Bail will also no longer be available to those with three DUI convictions. Three DUI convictions during a 10-year period will allow the state government to seize the driver’s vehicle.

To some observers, no doubt, some of the new mandatory jail sentences will seem too long. However, after a weekend in which a Shawsville family lost two of its members to a driver accused of driving under the influence of drugs, it is easier to put long DUI sentences in perspective. That driver, without due process, imposed a life sentence of sorrow on the survivors. Thanks to Del. McDonnell, Virginia’s roads will be among the safest in the country.

There will be other controversial laws taking effect on July 1. One of the most passionately debated measures makes it a criminal offense to cause the death of an unborn child in the course of an attack on the child’s mother. This piece of legislation, sometimes called "Conner’s Law," grew out of the double homicide of Laci Peterson and her son in California. Less potentially divisive is the new ban on methadone clinics less than half a mile from either a school or a day care center. This law passed in response to a debate here in Roanoke.

July 1 will also bring its share of confusion and potential loss of income for Virginia businesses, thanks to Sen. Fred Quayle (R-Chesapeake), one of the "moderate" Republicans who helped push through the tax increase. It seems Sen. Quayle was trying to repeal some old Sunday work laws (also known as blue laws), but managed to write his bill in such a way that the old laws were actually revived, rather than removed. Consequently, many business owners will start their new fiscal and business year uncertain about important employee regulations.

In due time, of course, the confusion will be cleared up, and in the meantime, because blue laws are usually enforced only in response to citizen complaints, the actual negative impact on businesses should be minimal.

The snafu does undercut the usual claim of Virginia’s moderate Republicans that they, and only they, are competent to run state government. Quayle, ironically enough, is the chair of the Senate’s local government committee. At the same time that Quayle was mangling this particular piece of legislation, his colleagues also made it legal for state-owned liquor stores in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia to remain open on Sunday. Let it not be said that our legislators are hampered by a slavish commitment to consistency.

Last but not least, as of Thursday of this week, it will be illegal to license nudist camps for juveniles in Virginia. Let it never be said our legislators do not have vision.