A Henrico County judge will hear the opening volley this morning in the legal battle over the controversial and costly fees Virginia wants to impose on its citizens who commit severe traffic violations.

Lawyer Esther Windmueller filed a “writ of prohibition” in the General District Court near Richmond last week arguing the fees violate the Constitution’s equal-protection provision because they do not apply to out-of-state motorists. After a judge considers Windmueller’s petition, she will appear in the same court to defend a client who faces paying as much as $3,000 under the new law.

General Assembly members and Gov. Tim Kaine agreed in April to impose the fees to raise $65 million annually for road-maintenance projects. The steep cost of the fees has raised Virginians’ ire, but disclosure that only Virginians would pay the penalties intensified public anger.

The penalties differ from traffic fines, which also apply to out-of-state drivers, and are considered fees for legal purposes. Had legislators designated the sanctions as fines, the revenue would have been reserved for school construction under a provision in the state constitution. The fees also are under attack from at least one local government.

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In Front Royal, the town council was expected Monday to approve a proposal that seeks to prevent tickets written by local police from triggering the fees. Council members believe a loophole in state law allows them to skirt the fees, but legislators say that the legislation creating the controversial penalties specifically says it applies to any “substantially similar local ordinance.”

Local officials throughout Northern Virginia have qualms about the fees, but so far, no other city or town is trying to avoid imposing the fees.

“If we’re serious about these traffic offenses, we need to hand out significant [penalties] that affect people’s pocketbooks, otherwise the traffic laws are ignored and people are hurt and killed unnecessarily,” Falls Church City Council Member David Snyder said.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com