ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: General Assembly Notebook
Gambling opponents claimed a symbolic victory Tuesday, even though the Virginia Senate defeated a proposed state constitutional ban on casino-style games.
Opponents to casino gambling said the debate unmasked what they say is the certainty that Colonial Downs will seek slot machines at its horse track, scheduled to open this summer in New Kent County.
Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, argued against the constitutional ban, saying that Colonial Downs may not be able to survive without a form of slot machines known as video lottery.
"You're going to shut them off now," Saslaw said. "If we have a race track here, we ought to make sure it's successful."
He added, "This state was settled by cavaliers, not puritans."
William Kincaid, a lobbyist for anti-gambling groups, said the debate left no doubt that casinos would try to enter Virginia through the back door of Colonial Downs or betting parlors in Chesapeake and Richmond.
"I'd say we're closer to getting casino gambling now than when casinos were pouring all that money into riverboat gambling," Kincaid said.
Assisted suicides voted down
The Senate voted, 27-12, in favor of a ban on physician-assisted suicide that would slap violators with stiff civil penalties.
Physicians who assist in the suicide of a patient would face a $100,000 fine and could be sued by family members. They also would face the permanent revocation of their licenses.
Opponents said the law would be premature, coming before the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to rule on the constitutionality of assisted suicide laws enacted in five other states.
Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said the outcome of murder trials in Michigan, where three separate juries have refused to convict Dr. Jack Kevorkian, shows great public ambivalence about the right to die.
"The fact is that the general public is not willing to go along with their elected officials," Saslaw said.
Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, said the civil penalties are needed to keep Virginia off the "slippery slope" of acceptance of the killing of handicapped and terminally ill people.
Veterans center bill dies
The Senate deadlocked on how to improve management at the Virginia Veterans Care Center in Salem.
Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, sponsored a bill that would transfer day-to-day control from the center's board to the state secretary of administration.
Trumbo said the board meets too infrequently - four times a year - to ensure adequate management oversight and care for the center's 240 elderly residents.
Trumbo alluded to management problems, but refused to discuss them on the floor of the Senate.
Opponents, led by Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, argued that the home's board should retain its current power. Edwards noted that the secretary of administration has no experience in managing nursing facilities.
The bill died when Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, casting a tie-breaker, voted against the bill.
Beyer said he was persuaded by veterans' concerns that their voice would be diminished if the board lost authority.
Nonlawyer closings OK'd
Real estate lawyers suffered a blow Tuesday when the state Senate approved a bill that would allow nonlawyers to handle real estate closings.
The bill was designed to undercut an October decision by the Virginia State Bar to require home buyers and sellers to hire attorneys when closing real estate deals. It passed, 28-6, with three senators abstaining because of a conflict of interest.
The Virginia Real Estate Attorneys League is the chief proponent of lawyers-only closings. It says home buyers need an advocate to spot potential legal snags in the avalanche of complicated paperwork.
That line didn't buy much sympathy in the Senate.
``We've created a monopoly,'' said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Warren Barry, R-Fairfax County. He warned that if the Bar's decision is allowed to stand, as many as 2,000 people who work in the real estate industry could lose their jobs.
There has been a growing trend in Virginia and other states for settlement agents, title agents or title companies to oversee real estate transactions without a lawyer.
The bill goes to the House of Delegates, which has to pass it before it can be signed into law by the governor.
Bill allows media into prisons
The House narrowly approved a bill that would allow television and newspaper reporters back into Virginia's prisons. The administration of Gov. George Allen has effectively banned reporters from the interior of such facilities since 1995.
Sponsored by Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk, the bill requires the Department of Corrections to make "reasonable" rules for prison access by reporters.
The fight against the bill was led by two Republican delegates: Randy Forbes of Chesapeake and Robert McDonnell of Virginia Beach.
If reporters are allowed inside prisons, Forbes warned, rape victims and the mothers of murdered children would be forced to watch their tormenters mock them on television.
"It's true that inmates have constitutional rights," he said. "But not the right to hold press conferences inside the interior of a maximum security prison."
Robinson responded that the legislation is about "sunshine and accuracy," not prisoners' rights.
Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, also voiced support for the bill.
Veil of secrecy lifted
Bills to lift the veil of secrecy around Virginia's Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission moved a step closer to reality - but were changed significantly in the House.
Both chambers debated a constitutional amendment that would remove mandatory confidentiality for commission proceedings. It passed the Senate, but was changed in the House. That House version now says proceedings ``may be'' kept confidential, subject to General Assembly action. It passed in the House Tuesday, 97-1.
Both chambers also debated state law changes that would open commission records, but not the hearings themselves. Again, the Senate approved the bill, but the House changed it to require only annual statistical reports.
A bill from Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk, calls for a one-year study of the commission by a joint House-Senate subcommittee. That bill passed Tuesday.
Also Tuesday
The House voted 87-9 and the Senate voted 37-3 to pass bills prohibiting the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Noticed and noted
A parental consent bill gained easy approval Tuesday in the House - but it had nothing to do with abortion.
The bill by Del. David Brickley, D-Prince William County, would require anyone under age 18 to get a parent's permission before getting a tattoo.
Legislators passed it without debate, 94-3; now it goes to the Senate.
Staff writers Robert Little, David M. Poole, Laura LaFay and Marc Davis; and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB