Out of the Dark : VA House Bill 3202 brings chaos to Commonwealth
Posted on August 27, 2007
If House Bill 3202 doesn’t hold any special significance for you, then you are clearly not a Virginian. If you are a Virginian and are still unaware of what House Bill 3202 has done to this fine Commonwealth, allow me to spell it out for you: Civil Remedial Fees. Now that should hit a nerve.
State legislators spent their summer brainstorming ways to suck funds from residents into a grand funnel that will aid road reconstruction and the like. According to The Washington Post, the sponsors of this bill hope to raise anywhere from $65 to $120 million annually from the civil remedial fees.
What does remedial mean anyway? It’s actually a word for the applaud given to the Virginia General Assembly for passing asinine laws that exploit its own residents.
In all seriousness, the Assembly tacked on the term remedial to these fees because (at least on paper) they hope to relieve the road of dangerous drivers by charging up to $3,000 per traffic violation. In fact, the bill clearly states that the objective of the remedial fees is to “generate revenue…from those whose behavior places significant financial burdens upon the Commonwealth.” Obviously, the purpose of this law is not solely to slap bad drivers on the wrist, but to seek out bad drivers and use their poor driving as an excuse to collect funds for the state’s benefit.
According to a summary of the bill, provided by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the civil remedial fees are like court costs, in addition to other fees and fines a so-called dangerous driver must face. It seems that essentially, Virginians are picking up the slack of the federal government to provide sufficient funds to upkeep this state government and its infrastructure.
This law also brings a lot of still-unanswered questions to the table. Most appropriately, what about an out-of-state resident going to school in Virginia who gets say, a DUI, or is convicted of any of the other violations? If two offenders commit the same crime, each offender should receive the same degree of punishment. Or say someone has four too many points on his or her would-be perfect driving record. The charges you could earn just by having these points on your record could be the cherry on top to your already standing sentence.
The civil remedial fees can be at least 25 times more expensive than the actual ticket given to the offender at the time of the violation. If the offender is a young need-for-speed demon, and mom and dad don’t feel like coughing up the big bucks, the civil remedial fees seem like the fastest way to burn a hole in a young driver’s pocket. Also, to Virginia residents who don’t make a sufficient income or even fall below the poverty line, the implications reach further than the stress of paying the civil remedial fees. If a violator cannot pay the fees, his or hers license will be suspended. If the violator’s license is suspended, it becomes more difficult to find a insurance or maintain a job. To remedy this, the Assembly has allowed installment plans to be started so fees are easier to pay over a period of time. A driver who commits a traffic violation should not have to initiate an installment plan to pay the ridiculous fees. Furthermore, multiple parts of each installment are to be paid to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, which is merely a bureaucratic institution of the state government and has no affiliation with the judicial system of the state.
An additional problem with the fees is that a resident who is late for a meeting and risks recklessly speeding for the first time in his life is in the same boat as a resident who speeds to work everyday on a suspended license while simultaneously getting stoned. Installing fixed fines for Virginia residents removes the right for Virginia courts to give discretion when dealing with driving penalties, regardless if the resident is a first or fiftieth-time offender.
Speaking of Virginia courts, the numerous jurisdictions that compose the Commonwealth will be so bogged down by trivial traffic violation cases that they will hardly have the time or resources to allot to more serious cases and crimes. Appeals to these fees are more than a hassle – because of the volume of cases the courts expect, appeals could take years – so Virginians must face the fees as they are dealt to them by the courts of the Commonwealth.
Citizens from other states who violate the same laws that Virginians are being punished for can breathe a sigh of relief because they aren’t under nearly as much scrutiny for their violations. This law unrightfully singles out those who live in the Old Dominion, demanding that they pay at least three times as much in total as the average out-of-state, tacking on as much as a four-digit fee for commonplace crimes.
If anything, I would think that the representatives sitting in Richmond would make a law that would shelter this state’s citizens, not solely exploit them.
It seems to me there might be a leak in the law. The purpose of a law is to justly punish those who break the law, doling out appropriate punishments to ensure that violators will hesitate in making the same mistake twice. But the sole purpose of the law established by House Bill 3202 is not to avenge wrong-doers, but to propagate an income from Virginian residents that’s not only unreasonable but unconstitutional.
Anna Young is a sophomore SMAD and sociology major.