Virginia Corrects Law Giving Sundays Off

It’s a sad thing when lawmakers feel the need to fix a mistake that “mistakenly revived a colonial-era law giving Virginia workers Sundays off if they request it and subjecting employers to criminal penalties for forcing someone to toil on the Sabbath.”

Seems to me that the colonial-era dudes knew something we’re starting to forget…

Also makes me wonder if the same line of thinking that makes our lawmakers provide a “revision that was greeted by loud groans, rolled eyes and nervous snickers in the restive Senate” will make our coloniel-era Consitution of the United States outdated as well.

And in Virginia as well! These guys should be ashamed of themselves. Founding fathers are banging on their coffins now for sure.

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Virginia Corrects Law Giving Sundays Off
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040713/ap_on_re_us/sundays_off

Tue Jul 13, 5:37 PM ET

By LARRY O’DELL, Associated Press Writer

RICHMOND, Va. – With just one dissenting vote, Virginia lawmakers Tuesday corrected an embarrassing legislative mistake that gave all workers the right to take Sundays off as a day of rest.

The bill was approved 36-0 in the Senate and 79-1 in the House of Delegates. Gov. Mark R. Warner then signed it into law; it took effect immediately because of an emergency clause.

“There was a real feeling of, ‘Oops!’ It is in many ways remarkable that it doesn’t happen more often,” Warner said.

The action came at a rare special session convened by the governor to correct the blunder.

Earlier this year, lawmakers mistakenly revived a colonial-era law giving Virginia workers Sundays off if they request it and subjecting employers to criminal penalties for forcing someone to toil on the Sabbath.

The mistake alarmed a wide range of businesses with weekend or round-the-clock shifts to cover, such as hotels, factories, stores, utilities and restaurants. It was supposed to go into effect with the first weekend in July, but was blocked by judge who issued a 90-day emergency order.

“I regret the fact that we had to come back here and do this,” said Sen. Frederick Quayle, sponsor of the original legislation. “I think that perhaps a lot of us have learned lessons from this.”

The mistake occurred when legislators repealed the outdated “blue laws” that restricted trade on Sundays. The legislation inadvertently repealed a list of businesses exempt from Virginia’s “day of rest” law.

The mistake slipped past legislative staff members who draft bills, legislators, the attorney general’s office and Warner, who signed the bill.

Over the past several days, employees around the state soon began notifying their bosses they intended to take their day of worship off.

Delegate Mitchell Van Yahres questioned why lawmakers were so quick to fix a bill at the bidding of businesses.

“I still haven’t heard anyone speak up for the employees. All I hear is conjecture about how the day-of-rest provisions might be abused, how employers will suffer and how the sky is certainly falling,” said Van Yahres, who cast the lone dissenting vote.

The cure was not without confusion as overly cautious lawmakers parsed the meaning of every word and phrase. A Senate committee fretted for more than an hour in a sweltering room before sending an amendment to a House committee. Delegates then made a minor revision that was greeted by loud groans, rolled eyes and nervous snickers in the restive Senate.

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