Senate Bill 3 came up for second reading in the Senate today. As discussed a few days ago, Sen. Drozda introduced this bill that turned dealing cocaine or narcotic drug from a Class B felony into a Class A felony if it was committed near a church. That would have made the offense more serious than, say, rape or manslaughter.
Senator Lanane offered an amendment that, while keeping the offense a Class B felony, allows a court to consider the fact of dealing drugs near a church (or other house of worship) as an aggravating factor when deciding on a sentence. His amendment prevailed by a vote of 26 to 23, but I can’t seem to find a break down of the vote.
[tags]SB3-2007, crime[/tags]
How is this law not transparently a violation of the First Amendment, being a law “respecting an establishment of religion”?
I don’t see why drug dealing near a church is any worse than drug dealing near, say, a masons’ lodge or a union hall.
Sorry; read “law” as “bill” above.
This hasn’t passed yet, and — God willing (heh heh) — it won’t.
FYI- There was no roll call taken. The amendment was approved via a division of the House. I was on the floor and counted nine Republicans who voted in favor of Lanane’s amendment, which didn’t go over too well with Drozda.
Thanks for the info! I was mainly wondering whether Sen. Drozda went along with the amendment. I strongly suspected not. Thanks for the confirmation.
What a junk law, er, bill. How an innocuous drug violation could be considered a greater offense than a rape or manslaughter reveals one goofy moral compass.
Mike Kole,
Just the same moral compass that puts an ephebophile who writes homoerotic emails to unpaid interns in his workplace in charge of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.