Publisher's Notebook

Here’s a bill that will provide more time to both sides for jury research. It’s another measure that made it through the Assembly without a single “nay” vote in either house.

Senate Bill 382, as introduced, would have changed the time period for disclosure of the jury panel to counsel in a case from “48 hours” to “two full business days.” Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, carried this one for the Boyd-Graves Conference.

It passed the Senate. Over in the House, in the Courts of Justice Committee, “two” got jacked up to “five.” It passed the House as amended. The Senate okayed that change and it’s on its way to Gov. McDonnell.

Lawyers previously had to scramble to dig into the backgrounds of potential jurors. No doubt they’ll still be scrambling, just for three days longer.

It’s not often that everyone on Capitol Hill can agree on something.

But during the just-completed General Assembly session, Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, secured passage for a bill that didn’t get a single vote against it as it worked its way through committee and the floor of both houses.

The bill is House Bill 747. It covers adoptions and allows a circuit judge to waive the appointment of a guardian ad litem in adoptions by stepparents or close relatives.

The measure made it through a Courts of Justice subcommittee 8-0 and the full committee 22-0. It passed the House 98-0.

On the Senate side, HB 747 sailed through Senate Courts 14-0 and the full Senate 40-0.

Undoubtedly there are other bills that made it through similarly unscathed, but this one is worth noting since (a) it makes sense and (b) it should make family practice just a little easier.

Presumably, the only people who wouldn’t like this proposal are those who serve as guardians ad litem, who now may be out of a little work. Apparently they don’t have a lobbyist working the Hill for them.

Couple of notes from our gun laws desk, involving weapons both concealed and unconcealed:

Proponents of gun rights have a reason to cheer today. The House of Delegates on Tuesday overwhelmingly (72-27) passed a bill to allow concealed handguns in bars, sending the measure to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who will sign it.

A similar measure was passed and presented over the past few years to McDonnell’s predecessor, Tim Kaine, who vetoed it twice.

Read more about it here.

On the unconcealed gun front, those who watch trends will want to know those who own guns and want to carry them openly have brought a West Coast form of expression to the Old Dominion.

Starbuck’s, the coffee giant that started in Seattle, was the target in Northern California and Washington state of a campaign by gun owners who wanted to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.

In a lot of states, a gun owner has the right to carry it openly; likewise, in a lot of states, businesses have the right to say, not here, partner.

California Pizza Kitchen is one of the corporate entities that said no; gun owners moved next to Starbuck’s, figuring a hippie-dippy Left-Coast tree-hugging coffee outfit would do the same. But Starbuck’s refused the bait. The company took the position that anyone can pack a piece in their stores, if it’s legal in the state. Despite some pressure to change that view, the company is sticking to, well, its guns.

Read more about that story here.

The picture? It’s an AP photo by Elaine Thompson, taken at a anti-gun rally in Seattle today. An observer, Shannon Dunne, sips a venti while watching the action, his Ruger Vaquero handgun at his side.

Notes from the General Assembly…

And here’s one that makes you think, surely this would already be covered by some other law in the Virginia Code.

Yesterday the Senate passed House Bill 1353, which provides that anyone who “possesses or consumes an alcoholic beverage while operating a school bus” containing children is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The chief patron of the measure is Del. Ben. Cline, R-Amherst.

Okay, even assuming that this offense is not covered elsewhere in the Code, is this a real problem that parents across the commonwealth should know about? Or did one bus driver somewhere show up with a sixpack in a bag that she tucked under the seat and that night some kid asked his mom what “Budweiser” means? 

In any event, it’s fair to say that drunk, or drinking, bus drivers are not a favored class on Capitol Hill.

HB 1353 passed the House by a vote of 98-0. It squeaked through the Senate, 40-0.

Gov. McDonnell, you’re up next.

Richmond lawyer Wyatt Durrette knows his way around the Capitol. He served three terms in the House of Delegates during the 1970s.

During the 1980s, he ran for statewide office twice, for attorney general in 1981 and for governor in 1985.

So when Durrette (at right) offers his take on the current General Assembly, as he did yesterday in a guest piece on Bob Holsworth’s Virginia Tomorrow blog, you listen.

Check out his piece, entitled “General Assembly Shenanigans,” and you’ll find Durrette railing at the current solons for spending time on “nonsense when the Commonwealth struggles with gargantuan challenges.”

Take on the repeal of the one-handgun-a-month law, for example.

Or the proposal to forbid the implantation of microchips (considered the “mark” of the “Antichrist” by some, he notes).

Then he skewers Speaker Bill Howell’s efforts to protect a single company from asbestos-related liability.

Durrette remains hopeful for the future, if not the present: “Surely, the Commonwealth will survive these ventures into the legislative dark side. But in the meantime, it is not a pretty sight,” he concludes.

…on the cell phone anyway, if the Virginia Senate gets its way.

If you’ve ever been out on the road and seen a car come at you driven by (1) a distracted teenager or (2) a distracted mom in a minvan or (3) a distracted salesman-looking guy, all of whom are yacking animatedly with a cell phone in one hand and the other on the wheel (maybe), here’s an item for you.

I personally have run across all three of these individuals at one time or another; fortunately, none of the three ran across, or into, me. Good thing one of us was watching the road.

The Associated Press is reporting that yesterday the Senate passed a bill to ban talking on a cell phone while driving unless using a hands-free device.

Senate Bill 517, patroned by Sen. Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, passed on a 25-15 vote Monday.

It would set phased-in penalties for drivers who take their hands off the wheel to hold a cell phone. Beginning July 1, the fine for yacking on a phone that’s not hands-free would be 20 bucks for the first violation, jacked to $50 for each infraction after that. The following year, the fine levels would be $100 and $200.

The ban would not apply to the operators of emergency vehicles, drivers who are stopped or parked, GPS or other digital dispatch systems like OnStar or anyone using a phone to report an emergency.

Chances for final passage? Maybe not so good. Since at least 2004, some senator or delegate has proposed this type of hands-free bill, and usually, they got tanked or sent to the Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety (i.e., legislative Siberia). Still, last year the Assembly passed a no-texting-while-driving law, so keep your fingers crossed. And both hands on the wheel.

Apparently there are grass scofflaws in Spotsylvania County that need to be given the business.

Eighteen counties currently have the authority to enact local ordinances requiring residents to keep their grass cut to a length of no longer than 12 inches. (Actually, a foot-tall lawn is pretty long, come to think of it).

The 18? The counties of Arlington, Augusta, Campbell, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Frederick, Hanover, Henrico, Henry, Isle of Wight, James City, Prince William, Roanoke, Rockingham, Stafford, Washington, Wise, and York.

Del. Robert D. Orrock Jr., R-Thornburg, has introduced House Bill 38, which would add Spotsy to the list.

Those grass-cutting ordinances have the potential to have some bite, if the county presses the point. If a resident ignores county officials and fails to get out the Lawn Boy, the county can cut the grass for him then send a bill. And violations also can prompt a $100 fine.

Probably easier to pay the kid next door a few bucks and be done with it.