A
Anonymous
Guest
It seems someone has submitted an anti-detecting bill in VA. It is not a good bill for us. If it passes the way it is, it will substantially hurt relic and coin hunting here.
HOUSE BILL NO. 2078 Virginia
I've read several of these bills now and they seem to all try to do the same thing.
1. give the state archeologist as much authority as possible.
2. prohibit detecting on all state property and some local too.
3. try to restrict detecting on private property in small ways.
4. make detecting much more difficult.
This bill outlaws all detecting on state lands. This means the beach will be illegal. You heard that, right? VA beach etc ...
It also allows the state archeologist to declare archeological sites on private property and inlist the aid of the property owner. This means they may find out where you like to dig and declare it an historical site and digging there becomes an instant crime. oops. Does anyone need to inform you first?
The bill would require everyone who digs on private property to get written permission. You know how hard it is to get permision to dig, try getting written permission. It is even harder to get. People don't want the liability or hassel.
It will be a crime to dig without written permission.
Is the owner liable if he gives you permission in writing for a protected site? Just wait till one of those gets into the newspaper and try to get permission.
The bill makes it a crime not to have written permission.
It also makes it a felony to sell more than $200 of relics in 90 days. A felony? Yep. $200 isn't much. A gold coin can exceed $1000, easy.
Its a bad news bill.
HOUSE BILL NO. 2078 Virginia
I've read several of these bills now and they seem to all try to do the same thing.
1. give the state archeologist as much authority as possible.
2. prohibit detecting on all state property and some local too.
3. try to restrict detecting on private property in small ways.
4. make detecting much more difficult.
This bill outlaws all detecting on state lands. This means the beach will be illegal. You heard that, right? VA beach etc ...
It also allows the state archeologist to declare archeological sites on private property and inlist the aid of the property owner. This means they may find out where you like to dig and declare it an historical site and digging there becomes an instant crime. oops. Does anyone need to inform you first?
The bill would require everyone who digs on private property to get written permission. You know how hard it is to get permision to dig, try getting written permission. It is even harder to get. People don't want the liability or hassel.
It will be a crime to dig without written permission.
Is the owner liable if he gives you permission in writing for a protected site? Just wait till one of those gets into the newspaper and try to get permission.
The bill makes it a crime not to have written permission.
It also makes it a felony to sell more than $200 of relics in 90 days. A felony? Yep. $200 isn't much. A gold coin can exceed $1000, easy.
Its a bad news bill.