McDonnell Approves Seven Laws to Protect Students

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, June 16, 2011

Gov. Bob McDonnell approved seven new laws designed to protect Virginia’s students, including laws pertaining to safety on school buses, drugs and obscene language.

The new laws, which were approved during the General Assembly’s 2011 session, will go into effect July 1.

Several of the new laws aimed to protect children riding on school buses at public and private schools. Drivers who fail to stop when a school bus has stopped on any highway, private road or school driveway can be charged with reckless driving. Localities will also now be authorized to install and operate video-monitoring systems on school buses, which will help detect drivers who pass stopped school buses.

A bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Tommy Norment prohibits sex offenders from driving or riding on school buses. A violation is now punishable as a Class 6 felony. Any person who has to register with the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry will be prohibited from driving school buses and from being issued commercial driver’s licenses and instruction permits to drive school buses.

Another new piece of legislation will extend the existing prohibition of obscene, vulgar or indecent language over the telephone to all electronic communications. This would include text messages and picture messages received or sent from cell phones or other wireless devices, such as tablets.

Two pieces of legislation address substance abuse by students. One law bans synthetic cannabinoids (like Spice) and chemicals known as “bath salts.” Possession of synthetic cannabinoids is now a Class 1 misdemeanor and possession with intent to distribute and manufacturing is a felony. Bath salts were added to Schedule 1 of the Drug Control Act. This legislation became effective upon approval on March 23.

The second law requires the Department of Health to develop and administer a random survey of students in public middle and high schools about their drug, alcohol and tobacco use. The survey results will help facilitate planning and implementation of effective programs for substance abuse prevention. Similar surveys have been administered in Historic Triangle schools, but such surveys were not required by the state.