Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505080080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Allen also signed legislation that makes it illegal to distribute child pornography on computers.
The Republican governor had until midnight tonight to act on about three dozen bills the General Assembly returned to him after rejecting some or all of his amendments.
The abortion-clinic access measure passed by the 1995 General Assembly would have increased the penalties for a second or subsequent conviction of blocking access to a health care facility. The bill was aimed at curbing abortion-clinic disturbances.
Allen amended the bill to make the penalties apply to all public places, not just health-care facilities. But Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, argued that other places were not having a problem. The assembly rejected Allen's amendment.
Allen said he vetoed the bill because it ``punishes completely nonviolent and nonthreatening conduct and denies similar protection to the patrons of facilities other than health care clinics.''
``The tragedy in Oklahoma City has dramatically demonstrated that any type of facility, not just health care clinics, may be the unexpected site of wanton violence,'' the governor said.
Gail Nardi, spokeswoman for General Assembly Democrats, said the bill did not restrict anyone's righs to protest peacefully. ``What it did was offer some protection to Virginia women from the kind of terrorism and violence that has stalked women's health clinics around the country,'' she said.
The motor voter legislation would have brought Virginia into compliance with federal legislation that allows voter registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles, welfare and unemployment offices, military recruiting stations and by mail.
``Registering to vote in Virginia is not difficult under our current laws. But vote fraud will be easier to perpetrate under this legislation which Congress has sought to force on Virginia and our sister states,'' Allen said.
His veto was accompanied Friday by a lawsuit filed by the state seeking to overturn the federal legislation.
Attorney General Jim Gilmore asked the U.S. District Court in Richmond to declare the legislation unconstitutional and to issue a permanent injunction against its enforcement in Virginia.
The Washington-based People for the American Way Action Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union have threatened to file suit if Allen vetoed the motor voter measure.
The concealed weapons bill would, in effect, require judges to issue concealed-weapons permits to virtually any law-abiding adult who applies. Legislators complained that many judges, particularly in Northern Virginia, were routinely denying permits for no good reason.
The computer porn bill expands the child pornography law to make its electronic transmission illegal.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB