General Assembly Notebook

- ACLU pushes GA to authorize pro-choice specialty plate
- Subcommittee endorses two Bell bills improving protective orders
- State gets big fat F on voter-initiative-rights report card

Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

ACLU pushes GA to authorize pro-choice specialty plate: The ACLU of Virginia is urging members of the Virginia General Assembly to support Senate and House bills that authorize a pro-choice specialty license plate. The plate, containing the phrase Trust Women, Respect Choice, counters a law passed in 2009 authorizing a Choose Life license plate.

Under recent court decisions, specialty license plates are considered to be a public forum, and in a public forum all viewpoints must be equally accepted. For the General Assembly to authorize an anti-choice plate but not a pro-choice plate violates this fundamental principle of free speech.

“Before the final vote takes place, all legislators will have received a memo from us explaining why they are required by the Constitution to approve the pro-choice license plate,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “This is one time lawmakers need to set aside their views on reproductive rights and let the First Amendment be their guide. If they can do that, the pro-choice license plate will be easily approved. If not we’re undoubtedly headed to court.”

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has consistently held that specialty license plates are subject to the First Amendment. In 2002, the Fourth Circuit ordered DMV to restore a Confederate battle flag the General Assembly had stripped from a specialty plate created for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In 2004, the Fourth Circuit ordered South Carolina to halt production of an anti-choice plate after a pro-choice plate failed to be approved by the legislature.

The ACLU of Virginia has repeatedly asked legislators to move the specialty license plate authorization process to DMV, where it would be administered in a viewpoint neutral manner using rules similar to those that govern vanity license plates.

“If you think about it, it is counterintuitive for lawmakers to be deciding who gets to have a specialty license plate and who doesn’t,” added Willis. “Public officials are elected because of their political views and expected to vote in accordance with those views. Yet the Constitution requires them to be viewpoint neutral when voting on specialty license plates.”

There are two identical pro-choice license plate bills in the General Assembly, SB 704 and HB 1108. Funds generated by the sale of the plate will support Planned Parenthood’s health and family planning programs.

Subcommittee endorses two Bell bills improving protective orders: The Virginia House of Delegates Criminal Laws Subcommittee on Wednesday endorsed two bills by Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, to improve Virginia’s Laws for Protective Orders.

“Protective orders provide legal protections to those who have been abused by family members or stalked by strangers,” Bell said. “From my years as a prosecutor, I know how important they can be to keep abusers away from their victims.”

The first bill, HB 930, would enable a protective order to be extended past the current two-year limit. The protected individual would be able to apply to the court, which could grant the order to protect the petitioner or her family members.

“This will give additional protections for those who are reasonably afraid, even after two years,” Bell said. “Anyone who willfully violated the protective order could be arrested and would face a mandatory jail sentence.”

The measure passed unanimously.

The second bill, HB 931, would require the Virginia Supreme Court to coordinate protective order forms with the protective order forms in other states, to coordinate the interstate enforcement of such protective orders.

“Given the mobility of today’s society, this is especially important,” Bell said. “If a Virginian woman has a protective order against an abusive boyfriend, we want to make sure she is protected if she moves to North Carolina. We also want to make sure we know how to enforce protective orders that were issued in other states.”

The bill also passed.

The full Courts of Justice Committee will now hear the bills.

State gets big fat F on voter-initiative-rights report card: Citizens in Charge Foundation, a transpartisan national voter-rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, released its Virginia Report in the 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights on Thursday, and Virginia received an F in the rendering by Citizens in Charge.

“When it comes to providing citizens a direct voice in their government, Virginia flat-out flunks the test,” said Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob. “Now it’s time to take action to correct this undemocratic status. We hope to work with citizens and legislators in Virginia to enhance their First Amendment rights by providing initiative and referendum.”

The Report Card is a comprehensive review of initiative and referendum rights in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report details the policies and laws that restrict these rights, and suggests reforms for each state to improve its grade.

Virginia received an F in the 2010 Report Card because Virginia citizens do not have the ability to put measures on the statewide ballot, and while a process does exist at the local level, it is not enough to raise the state’s grade.

The 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights analyzed numerous aspects of state and local initiative laws, both positive and negative, to determine each state’s final grade. A state was awarded points if citizens had the ability to propose statewide constitutional amendments, statutory initiatives, or to call a referendum on legislative acts through a citizen petition process. States were also given points for allowing local initiatives throughout the state. Points were deducted for high signature requirements, short periods in which citizens must gather petitions and other restrictive policies.

“The important thing about any report card is to know where you stand so that specific improvement can be made,” said Jacob. “There is much room for improvement. By laying out a clear road map for needed reforms in each state, we look to work with citizens and legislators to make this process more open and accessible to the people.”

Virginia can improve its grade in a number of different ways. It can expand citizen access by allowing citizens to propose state constitutional amendments, statutes and referenda and refer them to the ballot.

The 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights allows citizens and legislators to compare their initiative and referendum rights with those of people in other states, and encourages embracing best practices from those other states.

The state report is available at: www.CitizensInCharge.org/states/Virginia.