Mandatory emergency plans for colleges
Virginia’s public colleges now
are required to better prepare for
emergency situations such as campus
shootings.
The Virginia House of Delegates
approved House Bill 1449, which
requires boards of visitors or other
governing bodies at public colleges
and universities to develop and adopt
written crisis- and emergency-management
plans.
The bill, sponsored by Delegate
Anne B. Crockett-Stark, R-Wytheville,
and approved Tuesday, requires each
school’s emergency plan to be reviewed
and revised every four years. The
Virginia Department of Emergency
Management would assist colleges as
needed in the development of their
plans.
The bill is a composite of House
Bill 489, sponsored by Delegate James
M. Shuler, D-Blacksburg; House Bill
1268, sponsored by Delegate Adam
P. Ebbin, D-Arlington; and House Bill
1316, sponsored by David A. Nutter,
R-Christiansburg.
HB 1449 also requires colleges to
establish teams that would develop
campus-wide threat-assessment policies
and would establish first-warning
notification and emergency-broadcast
systems.
Brief by Michelle Antogiovanni and
Stacy Tyler
Local college lockdown revives campus-gun debate
Members of Students for Concealed
Carry on Campus will join two General
Assembly legislators Monday for a press
conference.
Delegate Robert G. Marshall, RManassas,
and Delegate C. Todd
Gilbert, R-Woodstock, have introduced
bills that would allow faculty, staff and
students to carry concealed handguns
on college campuses with a valid
Virginia concealed-carry permit.
House Bill 424, sponsored by Marshall,
and House Bill 1371, sponsored
by Gilbert, were left in committee and
killed during the 2008 session.
“In the wake of further shootings
around the country and the lockdown
at Ferrum College here in Virginia,
this legislation needs to be considered
by the full House,” Marshall stated in
an e-mail.
The press conference will be held
in the wake of a campus lockdown
this past Tuesday at Ferrum College,
a private school in southwest Virginia.
A housekeeper at the college reported
seeing a man with a handgun in a
dormitory. Authorities say they suspect
the man intended to cause harm.
Brief by Christopher R. Broskie
Abortion-clinic bill killed by Senate democrats
Amid controversy about its intent,
a bill aiming to expand abortion-clinic
regulations was defeated in the General
Assembly this past week.
Delegate Matt Lohr, R-Harrisonburg,
submitted a substitute version of House
Bill 894 in a last-minute attempt to
prevent the bill’s failure in a Senate
committee.
Instead of presenting a duplicate
version of legislation that was killed
earlier this session, Lohr streamlined
the bill and removed the requirement
that abortion clinics meet the same
standards as ambulatory or outpatient
surgery facilities. The substitute bill
required abortion clinics to be licensed
by the Board of Health and inspected
every two years.
“To me, that doesn’t appear to be
an onerous requirement,” Lohr said.
“We get our cars inspected, restaurants
get inspected, and – just the other day
– we passed a bill that dog breeders get
inspected,” Lohr said.
The revised bill also required
abortion clinics to keep emergency
life-saving equipment, such as defibrillators,
on their premises.
Lohr said these requirements are
safety guarantees for abortion-clinic
patients. But abortion-rights activists
fervently opposed HB 894, saying any
government regulation of abortion
clinics is an assault on a woman’s right
to choose.
“Even this adopted bill, (HB) 894,
is another thinly veiled attempt to
deprive women of their constitutionally
protected reproductive rights,” said Dr.
Wendy Klein, senior deputy director of
the VCU Institute for Women’s Health
National Center for Excellence.
The bill addressed first-trimester
abortions, which have an excellent
safety record, Klein said.
Brief by M.K. Luther