The Virginia Senate has passed its bill to repeal high fees on bad drivers by resolving a partisan impasse over how to rebate fees courts already imposed.
The 39-0 vote marks the first passage by the House or the Senate of a bill that not only repeals the hated surcharges assessed exclusively on Virginians but also refunds fees already collected and excuses payments still due.
“This is a clean repeal. It puts the burden on us,” said Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax County.
The breakthrough came on an amendment by Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, that allows people who have been assessed the fines to petition circuit courts to vacate the fees.
Once an order to pay the fees is voided, the state reimburses the petitioner for the amount already paid, and the Department of Motor Vehicles is prohibited from withholding drivers licenses for failing to pay fees not yet collected.
Passage of the bill was held up last month after Democrats objected to a similar amendment by Stolle, a lawyer and former Courts Committee chairman. The Senate’s Democratic majority favored legislatively mandating the refunds and excusing fees already assessed, but Stolle and the GOP argued that the Constitution prevents the General Assembly from dismissing a judicial order.
After a weekend of closed-door talks and advice from the offices of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, and Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell, Democrats concluded Stolle was right and agreed that only a court could waive fees already imposed.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. R. Edward Houck, welcomed the resolution that puts the repeal and the refunds back on a fast track to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. The bill, expected to pass in the House, would take effect immediately on Kaine’s signature.
“This bill corrects some of the worst action that I believe this legislature has taken in the 25 years I’ve been here,” Houck said.
The fees were part of the 2007 transportation funding act, the first major cash infusion in 21 years for Virginia’s highways, transit and rails. They were intended to generate nearly $65 million annually from people convicted of egregious driving offenses ranging from reckless driving to vehicular homicide.
Topics Personal Auto Virginia
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