Death in Space and Other Odd Legislation of 2012

Every year there are a few bills submitted in the Virginia General Assembly that are just plain weird. For example, a few years ago there was a bill that would have made it unlawful for someone to allow his pants to fall too far below his waistline and another bill would have taxed plastic bags (it's back). Neither of the bills passed, but some of these submitted this year might become law:

Death in Space

Del. Terry Kilgore likely wins this year's award for odd legislation with House Bill 19 that would provide a lucrative tax credit to anyone who has a prepaid contract with a commercial space flight business to have his or her cremated remains released in orbit. The deduction cannot exceed $8,000 in total and $2,500 for a single tax year. Such space burials can cost as much as $12,000. I guess you could call this bill "spacey." The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) helped Kilgore craft the legislation and the state is trying to create business for commercial space entities. Gov. Bob McDonnell put $4 million in this year's budget for MARS.

Smoking In Cars

Is Del. Joe Morrissey going too far with House Bill 115, which would make it a civil penalty of up to $100 for anyone who smokes in a vehicle with a child under the age of 13 present? You know what might be next if a bill like this passes? Someone will submit a bill that would make it illegal to smoke in your own home if the children are present. There is another bill that would allow for bans of smoking in public parks. Hey, I am the first person to stand up against smoking because I cannot stand it, but there is something about this bill that makes me feel uncomfortable.

Pickles and Salsa

Apparently, makers of candy, jam and baked goods cannot be contaminated in private homes because the law allows people to make and sell these goods without having to have food safety inspections. House Bill 46 would add pickles, relishes and salsa to the list of goods that people can make in their homes and sell at farmer's markets without inspections. What makes these foods safer than, say, french fries or chili?

Turn Off Your Pager!

I had no idea it was already against the law for someone to have their phone or pager ring with the intent to annoy. Who does this anyway? I've never heard of such a thing. And how is annoy defined? House Bill 39 would increase this offense from a Class 3 misdemeanor to a Class 2 misdemeanor. Apparently Del. Bob Tata has had some bad experienced with pagers and cell phones. I just don't understand who sets their pager to go off just to annoy someone. Has this happened before, and if so, why wasn't this front-page news?