Below The Beltway

Governor Kaine signed the law this afternoon:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The daunting fees on abusive Virginia drivers is officially a thing of the past. Governor Tim Kaine signed legislation repealing the law Thursday.
The repeal, passed as emergency legislation by the General Assembly earlier this month, took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature.
Legislators in both parties [...]

Virginia took one step closer to being rid of the monstrously stupid abusive driver fees today when the State Senate passed it’s version of the repeal law:
RICHMOND, Va. : The Senate finally passed its bill to repeal high fees on bad drivers Wednesday by resolving a partisan impasse over how to rebate fees already courts [...]

Efforts by the Virginia General Assembly to repeal the abusive driver fees have run up against a very old case from the Virginia Supreme Court:
RICHMOND, Jan. 28 — Efforts to repeal Virginia’s controversial abusive-driving fees hit a snag Monday after lawmakers discovered a 130-year-old state Supreme Court ruling that prohibits lawmakers from ordering local courts [...]

The Virginia Senate took the first steps yesterday to follow the House of Delegates and end the abusive driver fees, but they seem to be tied up on the question of what to do about the people who are already paying under the law:
RICHMOND, Jan. 25 — The Virginia Senate took a major step Friday [...]

Yesterday, the House of Delegates overwhelmingly passed a bill to repeal the abusive driver fees it had put in place only a year ago:
RICHMOND, Jan. 22 — The Virginia House of Delegates quickly and quietly voted Tuesday to tweak last year’s landmark transportation package by repealing the costly, unpopular fees on dangerous drivers.
The proposal, which [...]

Well, that didn’t take long at all.
Only a day or two after Tim Kaine called for an end to the abusive driver fees, Virginia Senate Democrats are talking about tax increases:
RICHMOND, Jan. 10 — Senate Democrats said Thursday that they might push for a tax or fee increase to raise additional money for transportation, reopening [...]

In his State of the State speech last night, Governor Tim Kaine endorsed the repeal of one of the worst ideas to come out of last year’s General Assembly session:
RICHMOND, Jan. 9 — Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine called Wednesday night for a repeal of the controversial new fees on bad drivers and urged lawmakers [...]

In this morning’s Washington Post, Anita Kumar and Tim Craig have more about the study released yesterday on the effectiveness of Virginia’s abusive driver fees:
The report, prepared by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, paints a picture of a fee system that is almost out of control, with descriptions of some police officers unwilling [...]

Well, this should put an interesting spin on things when the General Assembly convenes in January:
There is no evidence that Va.’s new abusive-driver fees stop bad driving, according to a new report from the state legislature’s watchdog agency.
In addition, the new law, which imposes steep civil penalties for egregious behind-the-wheel behavior, is applied inconsistently, the [...]

An Arlington General District Court Judge has declared Virginia’s abuser fees unconstitutional:
An Arlington County General District Court judge has ruled that Virginia’s abusive-driver fees are unconstitutional, saying they violate guarantees of equal protection because they apply only to state residents.
Judge Dorothy H. Clarke ruled Tuesday in the case of Oscar Reyes Hernandez, who was charged [...]