Her department wants access to professional and occupational licenses, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, death certificates and records of the department of Motor Vehicles. The proposed legislation would provide the DMV with a list of people delinquent in their financial obligations. In turn, the agency would legally refuse to renew their licenses. Delegate Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, said he thought there should be a balancing act between a person's right to privacy and the social services' right to be able to find the parent and collect the money owed. Social services also asked the justice committee to establish criteria to determine when the department must review child-support orders and when modification becomes appropriate.
Current practice permits a case review at a parent's request.
If enacted, this legislation would allow each parent one review without giving a reason. But if that parent requested another review within three years, she said, that parent would have to show some solid reason for doing so. Since changes in income or other financial variances would be required to adjust child-support payments, Riopelle suggested this alone might prevent some parents from seeking a review every two months. While California's and Arizona's citizens voted to allow the medical use of marijuana in certain instances, Virginia already has such a law but some lawmakers want to repeal it. Virginia law stipulates that the state's licensed physicians are immune from being arrested for prescribing the drug for medical purposes.