Schools stay closed through
Labor Day
The House Education Committee
on Friday killed several bills that would have allowed local school
divisions to decide when to start classes each school year. The panel
voted 15-8 against one proposal, then booted similar measures with
voice votes, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch reported.
The so-called “Kings Dominion
law” requires school divisions to start after Labor Day unless they
have a waiver from the state allowing them an earlier start because
of bad weather or special programs. Nearly half the state’s school
districts – primarily in western Virginia – usually receive such a
reprieve, according to the paper.
Eight education and parent
organizations released a statement Friday urging lawmakers to throw
out the law. The groups included the Virginia Education Association,
the Virginia Congress of Parents and Teachers, and the Virginia Association
of School Superintendents, the paper reported.
“Repealing this prohibition
will send young people the powerful message that the General Assembly
believes academic achievement is more important than extended summer
vacations,” the groups said.
Textile workers see relief
bill
More than 200 laid-off
textile workers from Southside Virginia boarded five buses last week
and traveled to the Richmond to make a personal plea for assistance,
The Roanoke
Times reported.
The workers want the General
Assembly to pass the Textile Workers Relief Act, which would offer
at least two years of health insurance for workers who lost their
jobs because of foreign competition brought on by the North American
Free Trade Agreement, the paper reported.
The bill also would raise
weekly unemployment benefits for people living in high unemployment
areas by 43 percent. The House Labor and Commerce Committee is scheduled
to vote on the bill Wednesday, and many textile workers vowed to return.
The bill’s chief sponsor,
Delegate Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, told The Roanoke Times he
has been working to secure the support of several influential business
groups. Some of those groups are beginning to signal that they will
back at least large portions of what Armstrong proposes, the Times
reported.
Cranwell, Wilkins unite
on gun bill
A bill that would restrict
local governments’ ability to sue gun manufacturers is headed to the
House of Delegates for a vote this week, The
Roanoke Times reported.
Some Republican members
of the House Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns wondered aloud
why they were considering the bill Friday when similar versions were
before another committee, the paper reported.
But the bill's sponsor,
House Minority Leader Richard C. “Dickie” Cranwell, D-Roanoke County,
had a foolproof defense: Speaker Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst County,
made the decision.
Wilkins has shaped General
Assembly committees this year as more gun-friendly than they have
been in the past. Although he and Cranwell have often sparred, the
two share high ratings with the National Rifle Association, the paper
reported.
Cranwell said the bill,
if passed, would prohibit local governments from suing gun manufacturers
regarding the lawful sale of their products. He said any such lawsuits
should originate with the state attorney general's office. The bill
would not prevent municipalities from suing in cases where a company
sells defective guns, he told the paper. Cranwell admitted that the
special protection for the firearms industry is not a garden-variety
action, but he said it is necessary because of an increase in lawsuits
over the issue, the Times reported.
Keeping pornography out
of schools
Under a bill that cleared
the House Science and Technology Committee on Friday, students would
not be able to access pornography on public-school computers, the
Richmond Times-Dispatch
reported.
The measure, sponsored
by Delegate Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun County, would require public
schools that offer access to the Internet to filter obscene materials,
child pornography and other items deemed harmful to juveniles.
The committee voted 12-10
to send the measure to the full House, which likely will consider
the bill this week, the paper reported. “The time has come to do something,”
said Black, who made a political name for himself several years ago
when he led an effort to put Internet filters on computers in public
libraries in Loudoun County. A court eventually threw out the idea.
