VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC SENATE CONFEREES ANNOUNCE SUPPORT TO FUND ALICIA'S LAWSenators Pledge Provide Funding for Sen. Deeds and Del. Moran's Initiative
(Richmond, Va.) - The Virginia Senate Democratic Budget Conferees announced today their support for funding for enforcement of Alicia's Law.
"This is a priority for us in the Senate and should be a priority for all budget conferees," Senator Charles Colgan (D-Prince William), Senate Finance Committee chairman, said. "This is a long budget process and nothing is set in stone yet, but we are going to fight to put the $1.25 million back in the budget for enforcement."
Alicia's Law is named after Alicia Kozkeiwicz, a 13 year-old girl who was taken from her home and later discovered in the basement of a man who had assaulted her while streaming video of the attacks online.Law enforcement officials report that they know of 19,000 computers in Virginia where child pornography is being but lack the resources and manpower to catch these offenders.
"We have the ability to track these criminals down and stop this from continuing," Senator Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), also a budget conferee, said. "We need to give our local law enforcement help to start this program."
Bills to fund Alicia's Law were originally introduced by Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) and Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria).
"Even though this was a Democratic initiative, we believe supporting this should be non-partisan. We are going to do our best to get funding in the budget to get this initiative started," Senator Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania) said.
Senator Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax), the majority leader in the Senate, said the need to restore money for this cause is necessary.
"These crimes are unthinkable and we need to start this program and help bring these criminals to justice."
Needless to say, it is absolutely crucial that Alicia's Law be funded adequately.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS DECLARE VICTORY ON PROTECTING PUBLIC EDUCATIONRICHMOND - House Democratic leaders celebrated a victory today in protecting Virginia's education system when House Republican budget conferees 'walked away' from their demand to drastically reduce future funding for K-12 education. The proposed changed to the Standards of Quality would have cut $78 million from this years budget and upwards of $250 million in the next budget according to the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee.
"Democrats stood firm in our opposition to cutting funding for public education. We sent a clear message that we will not lower per pupil spending, we will not pass the burden to localities, we will not play budget games with our children's education and the future of our Commonwealth," said Delegate Armstrong.
The gap between the national average teacher salary and Virginia's teacher salary has doubled in the past decade. We have fallen $6,100 per teacher behind the rest of the country. Virginia's attorneys general have consistently supported public education and stated that our funding formula must take into account the actual costs of education.
"Today is a great victory for those who want a strong, quality public education system," said Delegate Moran. "We have successfully defeated an ill-conceived proposal that would cut education, hold back teacher salaries and drive up property taxes."
This morning's Virginian Pilot featured an OpEd from Delegate Moran in opposition to this proposal: http://epilot2.hamptonroads.co...
I feel bad for the kids, but they are not mine, and not my problem. I'll take care of mine, you take care of yours, and we'll all have fewer problems. I don't find that arrangement offensive at all.
Oh wait, Sally Struthers is calling for her .50 cents a day. BRB.
The extreme right has made "personal responsibility" the new codeword for racism, sexism, greed, ignorance and hate.
Nobody loves kiddie porn more than conservatives.
http://www.armchairsubversive....
http://dfa.meetup.com/boards/t...
http://www.urbandictionary.com...
Congratulations on sucking the marrow out of American greatness. Disgusting!
Parenting is a part of it, but spending money to track down child predators, even if all they are doing is exchanging IM and web cam, is not an instance of you spending money because I am not taking responsibility for my kids.
You are spending money to put these sick people where they belong, whether prison or a hospital.
Furthermore, a child seduced online is neither pumpkin-headed nor necessarily poorly supervised. Kids go online. They do things they are not allowed to do. Many of them (like my 14-year old) are more adept at computers than their relatively luddite parents, and easily get through parent blocks.
I mean, Nevis, whether you like it or not, I spend money every day to protect you.
I can't believe I am actually having to argue in support of allocating resources to protect kids form sexual predators.
If your child is online and paticipating in conversations with people YOU do not know, that is YOUR problem, not mine.
The world is a dangerous place, educate YOUR CHILDREN. Knowledge is power. It is also cheaper than law enforcement.
I have no idea where I've heard a strategy like that, before.
I don't hate kids, I hate their parents. I don't hate my country, I hate the idiots that that think their children are everyones responsibility. They aren't.
When people are caught harming others, nail them. But to fund open ended non specific law enforcement investigations. Abusing children, the elderly, and spouses is already against the law.
Yes I watched the vid last week. The man has budget to pad and an organization to fund. What else is new?