According to this AP story, the civil remedial fees have been declared unconstitutional by a Henrico county judge.
General District Court Judge Archie Yeatts issued the ruling in the case of Anthony Price, who was facing his fifth charge of driving on a suspended license.
With his order, Yeatts instructed Henrico General District Court clerks not to collect civil remedial fees that can reach $1,000 or more for certain driving offenses.
The ruling is binding only in Henrico County but is being immediately appealed to Circuit Court and could eventually reach the Virginia Supreme Court.
Wonder how long it will be before it gets to the Supreme Court? I’m guessing so long that the legislature may have time to repeal them first 😉
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
It’s a shame we can’t pick our test cases, though. Sounds like Mr. Price needs a Big Wheel instead of a driver’s license.
THANK YOU VIVIAN FOR THIS IMPORTANT INFO.
MB, yeah, the problem is though statistically speaking it was GOING to be someone like Price, wasn’t it? He’s been to traffic court five times now; sounds like he was pretty much destined to end up at the center of this case. Anyway he’s not that bad a case. No one is suggesting that he be given back his license, it’s simply a question of whether we should hold Maryland drivers and North Carolina drivers and New York drivers to a different standard than we hold this asshat. Would he be any less dangerous if he were from a different licensing jurisdiction?
Finally, it’s important to remember that the fees are not going to survive past January 2007 no matter what the final disposition of the case may be. All this means is that everybody responsible–Governor Kaine, Speaker Howell, Del. Albo, Del. Rust, and every Republican in the HOD who helped craft this legislation while locking out realists from the House Dems and the State Senate should have had reason to know better if a GDC judge feels confident enough about it to rule definitively on the matter. Suddenly Kaine looks a whole lot less crazy to me for reaching out to Speaker Howell and holding on tight.
Is a county judge supposed to opine on Constitutional issues as a general rule?
Brian, it depends on which Constitutional issues you’re referring to. Lower courts can and often do rule on matters related to due process and the rights of the accused, usually within the context of the admissibility of evidence. It is admittedly rarer that a GDC judge will offer an opinion on the law itself for reasons like the one offered by Judge Yeatts. But on the other hand, it’s rare that a legislative body will vote a bill into law that can so easily be construed as to violate equal protection.