BILL CREATING DRUG DATABASE FACES VOTE TODAY

Several bills of interest to Southwest Virginia have been moving through
the state General Assembly in recent weeks. Lawmakers in the House of
Delegates and the Senate also have been getting ready for crossover day on
Tuesday, the point in the legislative session at which bills approved in
one house are sent to the other for review.

One bill, submitted by Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, would create a
statewide database to allow authorities to track possible abuse of
prescription drugs such as the powerful painkiller OxyContin.

The measure, if approved and signed into law, would allow the State Police
to maintain a database that tracks narcotics prescriptions. The goal would
be to weed out those who go to doctor to doctor or to multiple pharmacies
to feed an addiction.

State Police investigators gather similar information now but must do so by
visiting individual pharmacies.

Wampler's bill is up for a final Senate vote today, and he said last week
he anticipated it would be approved.

"The biggest challenge has been how to find the money to pay for it," he
said. "We put a clause in the bill that says it would be funded when money
becomes available, and my instinct is that the bill will pass the Senate."

It could cost $1 million to get the program in place, he said.

Some physicians have expressed concerns about patient confidentiality,
Wampler said. The legislation has built-in protections, he said, adding
that some doctors apparently were unfamiliar with those measures.

If approved today, the bill will be sent to the House for review.

Another bill Wampler authored would allow towns, cities and counties to
provide competitive telecommunications service.

The Bristol Virginia Utilities Board has installed a fiber-optic network
and wants to provide Internet and telephone service to its customers. Its
efforts have been challenged in court by the state attorney general's
office and a group that represents private telecommunications firms.

The bill was approved in the Senate Friday and was ready for crossover,
Wampler said.

Other bills were moving through the Legislature.

Among them, legislation that would allow coalfield localities to raise the
coal and gas severance tax by 1 percent to fund water projects was tabled
in the House in January, but a similar bill was being reviewed for its
fiscal impact in the Senate.

And a bill submitted by Delegate Bud Phillips, D-Sandy Ridge, that would
create a special Virginia Economic Development Partnership marketing
division in Norton has been assigned to the House Finance Subcommittee.

The Virginia General Assembly session ends in March.