Two Cheers For The Great Commonwealth of Virginny!

The Legislature moves toward putting the final nail in the coffin of the so-called abusive-driving fees:

RICHMOND, Jan. 30 -- The Virginia Senate unanimously approved repealing the state's controversial abusive-driving fees Wednesday and agreed to give refunds to anyone who has begun paying the fees.

The bill now goes to the House, which also has approved a measure to repeal the fees.

Under a compromise between Senate Democrats and Republicans, the fees on misdemeanor and felony driving offenses would be repealed as soon as Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed the measure.

To address the fees being paid in annual installments over three years, the Senate bill orders the state comptroller to issue refunds. But to be eligible, people would have to go to the court where they were convicted and fill out a form requesting that a judge clear their name.

"This is a clean repeal bill. The burden is on us," said Sen. J. Chapman Petersen (D-Fairfax), who worked with Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) on the compromise.

Both parties had been pushing to quickly approve legislation to repeal the fees, which range from $750 to $3,000.

Of course, it was a horse's-assed move to institute the fees to begin with. Not only were Virginians enraged by the possibility of getting clocked with a thousand dollar speeding ticket at the whim of some trooper, they were doubly enraged by the fact that the fee was not applicable to out-of-state drivers. The roar of public opposition was heard in Richmond even above the sound of all the calculators being punched by lawmakers eager to figure out how much loot they were going to haul in by means of the scheme.

UPDATE: Speaking of such things, along I-95 somewhere down in North Carolina, there used to be a South of the Border billboard that read, "No, Virginia, 95 Is Not The Speed Limit!" that made me smile whenever I saw it. Anybody know if it's still there?