30-min. wait at MVD may soon be worth $5

PHOENIX (AP) - Long lines at the Motor Vehicle Division could mean money in your pocket.

A bill that would require the division of the Arizona Department of Transportation to pay a $5 inconvenience fee to customers who wait in line for more than 30 minutes won preliminary approval yesterday from the House.

''I think it will provide the department of motor vehicles with a tremendous incentive to ensure that people see a clerk,'' said Rep. George Cunningham, the Tucson Democrat who came up with the idea and attached it to a proposal that would set up a volunt eer program for the division.

Under the revised bill (SB1065), money to pay the $5 inconvenience fee would come out of the MVD's personnel budget. Cunningham said the division wouldn't have to hire additional staff members to ensure shorter waits, it could simply shift employees aroun d.

House approves abortion consent bill

PHOENIX (AP) - A bill to require pregnant minors to get parental or judicial consent before having an abortion was approved yesterday in the House.

The measure, which passed by a 40-18 vote, now heads for the Senate, where it is expected to be the first abortion-related legislation to emerge in three years.

Senate President John Greene, R-Phoenix, had enforced a moratorium on abortion bills for the past three years. He agreed earlier this session to allow the parental consent bill to be heard.

But he linked the bill to measures that would appropriate $1 million for family planning services and $1.2 million for a teen pregnancy prevention program.