Virginia Rep. Scott to try again on crime reform

Jan. 19--Challenging strongly held views of two powerful committee chairmen on Capitol Hill didn't pay off when Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, teamed up with a Wisconsin conservative to argue for sweeping criminal justice reform -- but he's going to try again this year.

"I'm an optimist," Scott told the Daily Press editorial board Wednesday. "People say it's courageous to say we try too many juveniles as adults -- I've always thought it takes more courage to try more juveniles as adults, knowing it increases crime, costs taxpayers more, but does make you look good as a politician."

Scott and Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, teamed up in 2015 on a bill to reform federal criminal law, linking Scott's notion that too many nonviolent offenders were spending too much time behind bars with Sensenbrenner's concern about the cost of prisons and regulatory overreach.

At the heart of the bill was Scott's argument that doing away with many mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and opening more alternatives, like drug courts and probation, would free up money that could be used for police training and prevention programs that could have a long-term impact on the level of crime and the cost of prisons.

It failed when two powerful legislators, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, both of whom are strong supporters of mandatory minimum sentences, countered with legislation of their own.

It's tough to get a bill out of a congressional committee when the chairman has legislation of his own with a different approach, Scott said.

With their bill, Scott and Sensenbrenner constructed a rare bipartisan alliance. Sixty members of Congress signed on as co-sponsors.

The bill won support from conservatives worried about reining in government spending and the practice of filing criminal charges for violations of federal regulations.

State Del. Mike Mullin still remembers the 15-year-old he had to prosecute for kicking a trash can on his way to the principal's office.

It stuck in his craw, just like the case of the two teenage girls who got in a shove and a hair-pulling when squabbling over a boy during a high school football...

State Del. Mike Mullin still remembers the 15-year-old he had to prosecute for kicking a trash can on his way to the principal's office.

It stuck in his craw, just like the case of the two teenage girls who got in a shove and a hair-pulling when squabbling over a boy during a high school football...

It also eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for many drug offenses and proposed using savings from sending fewer nonviolent offenders to prison to pay for more programs for prevention and alternatives to incarceration, such as drug courts, which are priorities of many liberal politicians.

Scott said it will be vital in the weeks to come to press congressional Republicans and the Trump administration for their plans to replace Obamacare, and for details about what in the Affordable Care Act they plan to drop.

He said he's concerned that talk of dropping the requirement to buy insurance will make it impossible to continue to guarantee that people can't be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.

"People might only buy insurance when they're sick," he said. That will force up the price of insurance, leading healthier people to say they can't afford coverage, and set off the kind of spiral in costs that nobody can afford, he said.

Federal regulators have decided to include shipyards in a new regulation that sets dramatically tougher standards for exposure to beryllium, a toxic metal found in some blasting operations.

The announcement Friday won praise from Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott and an official with

Federal regulators have decided to include shipyards in a new regulation that sets dramatically tougher standards for exposure to beryllium, a toxic metal found in some blasting operations.

The announcement Friday won praise from Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott and an official with United Steelworkers...

Scott said many Americans who already had insurance seem to forget that the Affordable Care Act offered them benefits, too. Besides guaranteeing that people couldn't be refused coverage for pre-existing conditions, those included ending the caps on the lifetime and annual totals insurers would pay, closing the so-called "doughnut hole" in Medicare that shifted some drug costs to patients, and allowing young people up to the age of 26 to be covered under their parents' policies.

While some who are pushing to repeal Obamacare talk about preserving some or all of these, they aren't explaining how they can do that and bring down the cost, he said.

Ress can be reached by phone at 757-247-4535.

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