As of 4 p.m., Wednesday, January 15, 2003, the seventh day of the 2003 Regular Legislative Session, 290 bills have been introduced in the House of Delegates.
Four bills have been passed by the House and will now go to the Senate for its consideration. These are:
Committee Substitute for House Bill 2001 would restrict public access to military discharge forms recorded in the county clerks office. This bill would require the clerk to record the form free of charge, in a secure area away from the general public and the record would be open for inspection and copying by the veteran and other individuals outlined in this bill. In addition, the clerk would be permitted access to these records of deceased persons for authentic genealogical or other research purposes.
Committee Substitute for House Bill 2051 would expand the eligibility of part-time students for higher education adult part-time student grants. This bill removes the restrictions that a part-time student enrolled for only 3 credit hours is only offered the grant for two semesters and that independent students who have completed secondary education at least two years previous are not eligible for the grant. This bill also establishes a 10% set aside of the annual appropriation for grants to state community and technical colleges for non-credit and customized training programs. The bill further adds a requirement that adult part-time student grants must be available throughout the year for authorized distance education courses.
Committee Substitute for House Bill 2077 would remove the requirement for the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to be given reports on the Colin Anderson Center (a state mental health hospital and facility) closure and the relocation of patients.
Committee Substitute for House Bill 2082 would expand the membership of the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) to include the CEO of the Business Roundtable and an additional member of the Roundtable selected by its membership. The bill would also reduce the Chancellor’s salary to an amount equal to the compensation of the State Superintendent of Schools. It would require that the salaries of the HEPC’s direct staff must be proportional with the salaries of the State Department of Education staff.
A sample of bills introduced in the House:
House Bill 2123 relates to driving under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances or drugs. This bill would reduce the allowable blood alcohol content for DUI from ten hundredths (.10) to eight hundredths (.08) of one percent of body weight.
House Bill 2148 would make armed assault or conspiracy to commit armed assault upon school property, personnel or students who are on school property a felony offense. This would be punishable by 25 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. The bill also defines “armed assault” as an aggressive attack upon school property, school personnel or students who are on school property by using weapons of deadly force including, but not limited to, guns, bombs or other explosive devices, and knives, spears or arrows. This bill also defines “conspire” as two or more persons making an agreement to plot or contrive an armed assault upon school property, school personnel or students on school property, and who have acquired or made positive steps to gain weapons of deadly force to carry out such an assault.
House Bill 2064 would provide teacher retirement eligibility, with full pension rights, when a member’s age plus years of service equals or exceeds 80. This is provided that 10 years of the member’s total years of service may be out-of-state service or prior service or any combination of these not exceeding a total of 10 years.
House Bill 2175 would reorganize the executive branch of government, which includes consolidating the Department of Administration and the Department of Tax and Revenue into a new department of Finance and Administration. This bill further establishes five divisions in this new department and assigns the functions of current divisions, boards and offices to one of these new divisions. The new portions of this department would include a Division of Tourism, Natural Resources and Parks and an Office of Banking and Insurance, which would consist of the Divisions of Insurance and Banking. In 2004, the Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM) would also be transferred to this new office.
