When it comes to adding elements to a proposed piece of legislation, the old adage "the more the merrier" doesn't always hold true - just one portion of a bill can build enough opposition among lawmakers to defeat the entire measure. But the House of Delegates leadership is hoping that when it comes to automobile safety, by pairing together provisions dealing with blood-alcohol limit and seatbelt enforcement, the single piece of legislation will be strong enough to make it to the governor's desk.
The House last week passed 78-13 the bill, which would lower the blood-alcohol limit for driving under the influence from .10 to .08. The legislation would also make failure to wear a seatbelt a primary offense. Current law only allows police officers to cite drivers for failure to wear a seatbelt if the driver is first pulled over for another moving violation. This bill would permit officers to pull over vehicles for a seatbelt violation alone. The legislation would also prevent children from riding in the back of pickups or in open spaces of vehicles, although exceptions would be made for parades and farm use.
As I noted in a previous column, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that if West Virginia could raise its seatbelt usage rate from the current 53.3 percent to 70 percent, we would save 53 lives every year, prevent nearly 4,000 injuries and save $245 million in related costs.
Gov. Bob Wise called for stricter DUI standards during his State of the State address, so his administration is expected to push for that measure in the Senate. He has cited not only the major safety consideration, but also fiscal concerns, because if West Virginia doesn't lower the legal limit, the state also stands to lose a total of almost $24 million out of the state Department of Transportation's budget over a four-year period.
But it's not yet clear where the primary seatbelt issue stands with Gov. Wise or the Senate.
Meanwhile, I'm continuing to serve on the House-Senate conference committee negotiating a compromise on medical malpractice legislation. Last week's bad weather last week prevented even key lawmakers from returning to the Capitol. Thus, some final discussions on how the various components of the medical malpractice legislation will be funded had to be put on hold. I expect we will be able to fine tune HB2122 this week.
Conferees from the House and Senate should have those details before the two bodies for consideration and final passage well before the session's final hours.
Another major issue currently being debated by a House-Senate conference committee is all-terrain vehicle safety legislation. The House passed ATV legislation during the first two weeks of session, and the Senate later adopted its own version. Neither side proposes overly strict rules regarding ATVs. Both the House and Senate bills would require riders under the age of 18 to wear helmets and to complete safety courses to be offered by the state Division of Motor Vehicles. But the House bill contains a few more provisions to keep the vehicles off paved roads.
Interestingly, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported last week that the number of ATV related injuries requiring hospital treatment increased by more than 100 percent over the last five years, and the number of injuries sustained by children under the age of 16 grew by more than 50 percent even though their portion of the riding public grew by less than 10 percent.
While legislators understand the role ATVs play in West Virginia's tourism industry, and therefore don't want to unnecessarily restrict ATV activity, it's our hope we can finally adopt safety legislation to protect citizens, in particular children.
The House is also awaiting the return of the Workers Compensation legislation. While the House, the Senate and Gov. Bob Wise agree that something must be done this session to address the financial crisis - the state will become unable to pay claimants, our state's injured workers, as early as May 31, 2004 if nothing is done - an agreement on how to alleviate the $2.6 billion debt has not yet been reached. The House leadership adopted a proposed bill we believe would make major strides toward solvency during the second week of the session, but the Senate is just completing its own version, which takes on immediately some structural and financial issues the House intended to study and address in the coming year.
I welcome and appreciate your input on these issues, or any other legislative matter. Please call me at (304)340-3106 or write to Delegate Virginia Mahan, 215-E, Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV 25305.