0 for 3 in SubCommittee 2 of the House Militia, Police and Public Safety committee bright and early this morning, as Sen. Barker’s two bills, SB1042 which would make texting while driving a primary offense, (rather than a secondary offense as it is now), & SB1047 which would make cell phone use by provisional drivers [what we used to call the teen agers on learners permits] while driving a primary offense rather than a secondary as it is now, both were tabled, with Del. Shuler from Blacksburg dissenting. Then came Sen. Norment with SB1351 which extends the prohibition on cell phone usage to initiating and answering a cell phone call and provides some graduated penalties for violations. It promptly met the same fate, again with only Del. Shuler dissenting. The opposition to cell phone restrictions in this committee has been unwavering over the past several years, led by Chairman Ben Cline of Lexington and Clay Athey of Front Royal, and most such bills seem to get assigned here. Despite the citing of many authoritative statistics regarding how distracting this activity is, no opposition from the audience, and consistent support from AAA, law enforcement, and others, Cline & Athey seem to be adamant in summarily killing every such bill that comes along.
Then it was downstairs to House Transportation, where SB1234, carried by Sen. Deeds, which would permit Charlottesville to designate and stripe contraflow bike lanes on certain one way streets, if approved by the the city’s Traffic Engineer and Police Chief, received a good working over, before going down by a vote that was in the vicinity of 11-7, despite a good job of testifying by Traffic Engineer Jeannie Alexander, and strong appeals for support by Del. Toscano of Charlottesville and Del. Tata, an old Wahoo who represents Virginia Beach. (The vote, and roll call, is not yet posted as I write this.)
Then, just prior to adjournment, Chairman May called for reconsideration of SB928 (our surviving Three Foot Passing bill) at the request of Sen. McDougle, since the bill had gone down by a 3 -3 vote in subcommittee yesterday, with one subcomm member absent. Admonished to be brief, since the committee was out of time, I was the only one permitted to testify, and I gave a quick recap of the proceedings thus far along with an appeal for passage. Hanover’s Del. Cox weighed in with his continued strong opposition, and the vote was called for, and came in at 9 -7 against us, with Dels. Toscano and Cleaveland out of the room. Again, when the vote is posted, we’ll see the exact roll call, which was close but not quite.
BIG Thank You’s to Sen. McDougle for asking a favor of Chairman May, and to Del. May for granting the reconsideration, which you don’t often see.
One more to hear this afternoon, as Del. Greason’s HB 1981 (Motorcycles, Mopeds, & Bicycles May Go Through a Red Light that doesn’t turn, after a proper waiting period) is on the docket in Senate Transportation. This one has sailed through so far, and shouldn’t have any problems, but there are no sure things down there.
Legislative Update 2/16/11
We held off posting this yesterday, as SB928 still had a chance of being kicked up to the full Transportation Committee, and we didn’t want to jinx it. As reported above, it did get heard, but sadly, was tabled again.
Though Sen. Ryan McDougle did a nice job of patroning SB928 (Don’t follow too closely and Pass a cyclist by Three Feet) and Heather Higgins of Charlottesville gave strong testimony in support of it, it failed to be reported by a 3-3 vote in the House Transportation Subcommittee 2 this morning. Dels. Cox, Garrett, and Carrico continue to be STRONGLY opposed to this bill (and I would say, to cycling and cyclists in general), while Del. Oder (true to his word) voted to report the bill, along with Dels. Carr & Ward.
Del. Cleaveland of Roanoke, who had voted to report the identical House bill earlier in this session, was absent and in Roanoke so could not vote. Since it is technically possible for a member of the subcommittee to request of the full committee’s chairman that the bill be heard in full committee, Champe and I have asked Del. Cleaveland’s legislative assistant to ask the delegate to make that request, and we are awaiting his answer. If the request were granted, the bill could be heard in the full House Transportation Committee, whose next meeting is Tomorrow morning at 8:30. Sen. McDougle has agreed to be available to patron the bill, should the request be made, and granted.
Just before us in the subcommittee this morning SB1234 (to permit the City of Charlottesville to install contraflow bike lanes on certain one way streets) was effectively patroned by Sen. Creigh Deeds, and supported by Jeannie Williams, the city’s traffic engineer, a lieutenant from the city’s police dept., and Heather Higgins. After a thorough working over by the subcommittee, the bill was reported unanimously, and probably will go before the full House Transportation committee tomorrow morning.
Also tomorrow, at 2:00 p.m. in the Senate Transportation Committee, Del. Greason’s HB1981 (to permit motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles to proceed through a red light that doesn’t change after waiting a suitable time) will be on the docket, and is not expected to encounter any opposition.
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