While Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-34th) expects transportation to be the major issue of the 2005 General Assembly session, she's not optimistic about major progress being made it. "I think that when all is said and done, we're going to take a baby step instead of a giant step," she said.
Although the state has more than $900 million in unanticipated revenues, she noted that the vast majority of that is already earmarked for use, leaving little for use in addressing current problems.
The ultimate answer to many transportation woes will be entering into public/private partnerships and tolls. "If we're going to add roadways, we're going to have to look at toll lanes," she said.
Devolites Davis has the same committee assignments she had last year — Transportation; General Laws; Privileges and Elections; and Social Services and Rehabilitation. She has about 30 bills she plans on introducing this session, but a few of them she is particularly excited about.
One bill that she has been working on with Del. Vivian Watts (D-39th) would be an overhaul of regulations surrounding assisted living facilities. "There is a real lack of oversight and ability to enforce regulation," Devolites Davis said.
The bill tackles the issue on many different fronts. It would first require that at least one licensed administrator be on the staff. "It gives us a level of comfort," she said. She plans that the board that currently licenses nursing homes would step into the role of licensing agency for these facilities as well.
The bill would also increase the fines that the licensing agencies can levy. Currently, the maximum fine is $500, too low to really force compliance. Devolites Davis' bill would increase that fine to $10,000, although she noted that number may be subject to negotiation.
Devolites Davis would also allow the board to suspend licenses more quickly, instead of the lengthy court process that is now required. She does not envision this being used often, but thinks it may be necessary. "This is used in just extreme cases," she said.
She also hopes to be able to better identify residents in these facilities who have a serious mental illness. Occasionally, such residents are mixed in with others who do not have serious conditions, and this can sometimes cause problems. "They are identified so that [facility employees] know they have a very special resident who needs very specialized care," Devolites Davis said.
DEVOLITES DAVIS also plans to continue to work on technology issues, such as the anti-spam bill she sponsored in the past. This year, she plans to sponsor a bill that would make illegal such practices as "phishing" (pop-ups or e-mails that look like they come from an individual's bank but are not, and ask for account information), spyware (programs that track a person's computer use and send it to a third party) and hacking. "I'm sure a lot of other states are looking at it," Devolites Davis said.
In more local issues, she plans to try and remove the sunset date on red-light cameras. The bill, which allowed local jurisdictions, including Fairfax County, the Town of Vienna, the City of Fairfax, and others to install and operate the cameras is set to expire in June.
Devolites Davis does not plan to expand the program, just to let the areas that already have them keep them. Coupled with the cameras, she wants to address yellow-light standards, to ensure that jurisdictions are not shortening the length of time the yellow is on in an effort to try to create more red-light runners.
Devolites Davis also wants to add a provision to election laws that would prohibit voters from leaving the polling place after they are given their blue card. After waiting in line to register, voters would be given a blue card that they would then give to the poll worker.
She heard stories that during the November 2004 election, lines were so long that voters would leave and hand their blue card to someone else to vote for them, and that some polling places ran low on cards and tore them in half. Prohibiting people from leaving the polling place would remove the possibility of fraud, Devolites Davis said.
She also hopes to introduce a bill which would add the Town of Vienna to Arlington and Henrico counties as being permitted to prohibit solicitation on the roads. Sometimes people walk along at red lights and ask for donations from motorists. The Town had raised safety concerns about people being caught in the middle of the road when the light changes, and Devolites Davis wants to allow the Town to stop the practice.