Governor Kaine Signs Traffic Safety, Health Care, Firearm Bills

Press Release

Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced today that he has signed legislation adopted by the 2007 General Assembly that promotes traffic safety, clarifies certain laws dealing with firearms, and enhances access to quality health care. The Governor must complete action by midnight on March 26th on the 958 bills passed by the 2007 Assembly.
Traffic Safety

House Bill 1778 (Cosgrove) / Senate Bill 829 (Devolites-Davis), the "photo red" bill, gives localities the option of installing photo-monitoring systems to enforce traffic light signals. The Governor may submit a technical amendment that does not impact on the substance of the legislation.

"This legislation allows local law enforcement to determine if, and where, cameras might help improve highway safety," Governor Kaine said. "The research indicates this enforcement tool will help increase traffic flow, reduce accidents, and save lives."

Senate Bill 1039 (O'Brien) prohibits the use of a cellular phone or other wireless device while driving by those with a provisional license or a learner's permit, except in an emergency and only when the vehicle is parked.

"I believe this is a commonsense restriction on those new drivers who may be tempted to pay more attention to phone calls and text messages than the road, endangering themselves and other drivers," Governor Kaine said.

House Bill 1908 (Albo) / Senate Bill 1060 (Watkins) increases the age that children must be secured in a child restraint device, from five to eight, and requires that rear-facing child restraint devices for infants from birth to one year must be secured only in the back seat of most motor vehicles. Reasonable exceptions due to a child's weight, physical fitness, or other medical reason would be allowed, based on a signed letter from a licensed medical doctor.

"This legislation was the number-one priority of traffic safety advocates this year, based on research that clearly shows most 6- and 7-year-olds are too small to be properly secured with seat belts and shoulder harnesses," Governor Kaine said
Health care
Governor Kaine also signed a number of bills from his legislative package to strengthen health care in the Commonwealth.

"I am grateful to this strong, bipartisan group of legislators for working with my administration to pass a comprehensive health reform package," Governor Kaine said. "Combined with an outstanding health and human resources budget, this year has been a significant step forward for improving access and quality in health care in Virginia."

House Bill 2214 (Armstrong) / Senate Bill 974 (Edwards) combats childhood obesity by directing the Virginia Health and Education departments to work together to address childhood obesity in school age children, as well as other chronic health conditions.

House Bill 2378 (Hamilton) / Senate Bill 1240 (Quayle) modernizes the role of the Health Department, emphasizing disease prevention, making quality, safety, and privacy the focus of state health care regulations, and strengthening emergency preparedness.

House Bill 3043 (Spruill) gives greater emphasis on minority health issues by directing the Health Commissioner to designate a senior staff member who is a licensed physician to direct the department's minority health efforts.

House Bill 2033 (Hamilton) / Senate Bill 1024 (Puller) improves coordination of long-term care by making the Secretary of Health and Human Resources the single point of contact for coordinating long-term care throughout state government.

House Bill 3131 (Moran) / Senate Bill 1374 (Miller) emphasizes prevention in all health and human resource agencies to make state financing and delivery of health care more efficient and effective. Governor Kaine had a companion budget amendment that increased prenatal care coverage for low-income women to emphasize keeping people well.
Firearms Bills

House Bill 2653 (Lingamfelter) prohibits anyone other than a law enforcement officer or someone under an officer's supervision from attempting to persuade a firearms dealer to make an illegal sale. This will ensure that trained, authorized officers, not individual citizens, media, or interest groups, are enforcing the law.

House Bill 2106 (Carrico) eliminates the unnecessary requirement that a person with a valid concealed weapons permit submit fingerprints when applying to renew that permit. Another bill by Delegate Carrico, House Bill 2547, prohibits localities from banning the possession of firearms along highways, reducing the possibility of a patchwork of differing regulations along the same highway.

House Bill 2413 (Athey) allows retired law enforcement officers to participate in firearms training offered by their law enforcement agency.

House Bill 2309 (Lingamfelter) directs the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to develop model hunting ordinances for consideration by local governments. Another bill by Delegate Lingamfelter, House Bill 2308, allows the Department to change by regulation the maximum number of shells a shotgun may hold and still be a legal hunting weapon.

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