GA Update - Action needed!
Dear Friends,
There is a bill in the General Assembly, SB 1444, that would repeal Virginia's
"Smoke a Joint, Lose Your Driver's License" Law.
Currently, Virginia law requires that when any person is found by a court to
have violated Virginia's law against possession of marijuana, his driver's
license be suspended for six months. The suspension is mandatory even if the
defendant enters into a drug treatment program that allows the charges to
eventually be dismissed. A 2010 data analysis found that Virginia had the most
rigorously enforced "smoke a joint lose your license law" in the country, with
29,086 licenses being suspended every year in our Commonwealth.
Virginia's current policy was passed in 1992, in response to the federal
Solomon-Lautenberg Act, which required that states either pass such laws, or
explicitly opt out, in order to get their full allocation of transportation
funding. The majority of U.S. states either never adopted the policy or have
since repealed it. The fourteen states that continue to have such a policy on
their books are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa,
Massachusetts (does not suspend for marijuana possession of ounce or less),
Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Virginia.
According to an analysis by the Clemency Report, "Research has found the
mandatory driver's license suspensions for drug possession make roads more
dangerous by diverting resources away from highway safety enforcement. In
addition, driver's license suspensions have been particularly devastating to
the working poor. Forty-two percent lose their jobs following a license
suspension."
<http://clemencyreport.org/drivers-license-suspensions-drug-offenses-state-state-list/>http://clemencyreport.org/drivers-license-suspensions-drug-offenses-state-state-list/
The license-suspension laws place a financial burden on Virginia, for no
apparent benefit, as first-time, non-violent, simple-possession offenders
exhaust valuable court time fighting their drug charges since their driver's
licenses are at stake, and the number of individuals arrested for "driving on a
suspended license" is increased, resulting in more law enforcement, court, and
prison expenses.
Senator Adam Ebbin has a bill, Senate Bill 1444, that would repeal this policy.
The legislation has been referred to the Virginia Senate Courts of Justice
committee. If your Senator is on the committee, you are encouraged to either
drop them an email, or phone their office and leave a message. It doesn't have
to be anything fancy at all. Just give your name and address, remind them that
you are one of their constituents, and tell them that suspending driver's
licenses for non-driving related offenses is illogical, a waste of taxpayer
money and sets a bad legal precedent.
Ask them to SUPPORT SB 1444.
Here's the process:
1) If you don't already know, find out who your Senator is by going to the Who
Is My Legislator site, at:
<http://tinyurl.com/VaWhoIs>http://tinyurl.com/VaWhoIs Once there, you can
enter your address into the search box at the top right of the screen. If
you're really worried about revealing your address, then enter a neighbor's
address, or navigate the map until you can click on the block where you live.
Either way, you'll be shown the info on your Virginia Delegate and Senator, and
your US Congressman and Senator.
2) Click on "more info". You'll see the contact information, and scrolling
down you'll see the list of committees that they're on. If they're NOT on
"Courts of Justice", then he or she will not have a chance to vote on the bill
unless and until it is reported from the committee. (That said, it would still
be helpful if you were to let them know that this is an issue that's important
to you.)
If they ARE on the committee, then PLEASE email or call their General Assembly
office. They're all busy, all day long, during the session, so they probably
will not be in their office. Talk to their legislative assistant or aide, or
at worst leave a message, asking them to SUPPORT SB1444, repealing Virginia's
"smoke a joint, lose your license" law, in the Courts Committee. Remember to
identify yourself as a constituent.
If you have the time or energy, you could drop Virginians Against Drug Violence
Legislative Analyst Roy Scherer a note ( "Roy B. Scherer"
<<mailto:rsche...@lairhaven.com>rsche...@lairhaven.com> ) and let him know what
you did, and what response you got (if any).
There are three websites that are very useful for anyone trying to keep up with
the politicians this year. I've created permanent shortcuts to them, shown
below.
All the latest details on this particular bill are at
<http://tinyurl.com/SB1444>http://tinyurl.com/SB1444 . This includes the
bill's summary, full text, and current status.
The main General Assembly website is at
<http://tinyurl.com/VaBigHouse>http://tinyurl.com/VaBigHouse .
Legislative Information Service is at
<http://tinyurl.com/VaLegInfo>http://tinyurl.com/VaLegInfo .
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