Dooring bill fails again in Va House, 3 foot passing bill advances

[lordofthemark]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/02/25/virginia-house-panel-again-shoots-down-bill-to-protect-cyclists-from-dooring/

The good news – ALL NoVa delegates supported it, whether D or R. And all D’s on the Committee supported it, despite all being from other parts of Va. All the no votes were R’s from outside NoVa. Having no particular ties to R’s from the rest of Va, I have no idea how to lobby for this next year. I don’t know if change will come sooner from change in partisan make up in the rest of Va, or simply from growth in representation from NoVa with the 2020 census – or if generational change will change attitudes among rest of Va R’s sooner.

The better news – somehow the 3 foot passing bill made it through the same committee.

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[rpiretti]

I’ve mentioned this on my Twitter account but news is that in Alabama they are about to pass a 3 foot law. In fact, all of the states in the south have all have passed 3 foot laws except NC & KY. The Senate Bill 3 foot bill in Alabama was proposed by a Republican near Tuscaloosa with a legislature where being a Democrat is extinct these days since the 2010 elections.

This makes it quite interesting. I think we need to point out to the more conservative legislators in VA that their fellow conservatives in these states already have passed this law, throwing out the general “22 (or whatever the accurate count now) other states have already passed this law” statement.

I know several legislators and senators personally in Alabama, if anyone think it would help, I could write to them to, in turn, write to these VA legislators that won’t budge.

[mstone]

Only thing that will improve things is if the committee chair changes, which means either he retires or control shifts to the other party. In addition to killing the dooring law, he was the only no vote for the 3 foot passing law. He seems to just really hate people not in cars.

[Author]

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