Proposed No Tresspass Legislation Draws More Criticism

(Thursday) January 28, 2010

By Carla Branch
alexandrianews.org

Delegate David Englin (Photo: James Cullum)

Virginia Delegate David Englin’s bill that would require written notice including a description of the appeal process to persons barred from public housing property continues to draw criticism. The Alexandria City Council has not taken a position on the proposed legislation but heard from Alexandria Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Sengel earlier this week.

“After spending the better part of today in Richmond conferring with other prosecutors about the impact of projected budget cuts to our offices of between 12 and 13 percent of state funds, and being sensitive to the fact that many other agencies and programs in Virginia face very dire and immediate consequences of budget cutbacks, I respectfully submit that we have spent way too much time on this bill.” Sengel wrote in an email to Mayor Bill Euille and members of Council. “There are far more important issues that the General Assembly needs to focus on. If projected budget cuts come to pass, the criminal justice system in Virginia is going to undergo some radical changes. Most Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Offices will probably be without sufficient funds to even appear in General District Court and prosecute trespassing cases or other misdemeanors.”

Englin submitted the bill just before the General Assembly opened its 2010 session. He did not confer with Sengel or any other Alexandria official before drafting it. He explained his rationale for the bill in an email to alexandrianews.org last week. “The goal of the bill is to ensure that throughout Virginia, law-abiding residents of public housing projects and their law-abiding visitors are afforded some basic due process in cases where people believe they have been barred from the property unfairly,” he said.

Council deferred any discussion on Englin’s bill until the next legislative meeting. “I have now seen three versions of this legislation and still don’t understand the legislative rationale,” said Vice Mayor Kerry Donley. “We have invited Delegate Englin to our legislative subcommittee meeting on Friday so that he can explain it to us but I am going to have to be convinced that it is necessary.”

In addition to the staff item required to prosecute such cases, Sengel opposes the bill on other grounds. “I oppose this legislation as revised. After speaking with legal aid attorneys about the issues, I remain unconvinced that it is necessary. In addition, I am concerned that it establishes a different standard for
enforcement of trespassing statutes than what is currently in effect in Section 18.2-119 of the Code of Virginia. Section 18.2-119 allows a person to be forbidden to be on property either orally or in writing. This bill applies a different standard to public housing property by requiring a barment in writing. I would also suggest that it might well impede further progress toward scattered site public housing,” he said. “Why would a landlord be interested in incorporating public housing units in a property knowing
those units would be subject to a more rigorous standard for enforcement of trespassing policies than other units in the same development?”

Council’s legislative subcommittee will meet in the Sister Cities conference room at City Hall on Friday, Jan. 29, at 5:00 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.