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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2004 SESSION
Chairman: Kenneth W. Stolle
Clerk: Larry M. Girvin
Staff: Jescey French, Mary K. Felch
Date of Meeting: February 18, 2004
Time and Place: Wednesday, 2:00 P.M., Senate Room A
Patron: Scott, J.M.
Persons who may perform marriage rites. Allows circuit court judges to appoint persons who are residents of the circuit in which the judge sits to perform marriages in that circuit. 2003 legislation limited the area to the jurisdiction in which the judge sits and the person resides. Prior to the 2003 legislation, a judge could appoint a person who resided in the jurisdiction for which the court was held to perform a marriage anywhere in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Wright
Possession or transportation of firearms by illegal aliens. Provides that an illegal alien shall be subject to punishment as a Class 6 felon for possession of any firearm. Currently, the law prohibits the possession of an assault weapon by any person who is not a citizen of the United States or who is not a person lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Attorney General; wiretap orders. Expands the list of crimes for which the Attorney General may seek a wiretap order to include crimes by mobs, crimes by gangs, terrorism offenses, robbery, extortion and criminal sexual assault.
Patron: Albo
Venue of mob crimes. Provides that venue for all actions and prosecutions of any mob crime shall be in the county or city wherein such crime occurred, or of the county or city from which the victim may have been taken. Currently, such venue lies only in the circuit court of such city or county.
Patron: Albo
Juvenile intake; notification to school superintendent. Adds a criminal act committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang pursuant to § 18.2-46.2 to those enumerated crimes triggering a requirement that the intake officer provide notice to a school superintendent that a petition has been filed alleging a juvenile committed an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult.
Patron: Wright
False discount coupons; larceny. Provides that any person who uses a false discount coupon to obtain money or property is guilty of larceny. A definition of "false discount coupon" is added.
Impact Statements
Patron: Oder
Malicious bodily injury; caustic substance. Includes as an offense maliciously causing bodily injury with an infectious biological substance or radiological agent.
Impact Statements
Patron: Cosgrove
Crimes; possession of weapon on school property. Allows an off-duty law-enforcement officer to carry his handgun on school grounds. Currently, only a law-enforcement officer while engaged in his official duties may carry his weapon onto school grounds.
Patron: Griffith
Escape from a drug treatment facility. Provides that a charge of escape from a drug treatment facility may be prosecuted in either the jurisdiction where the treatment facility is located or the jurisdiction where the person was sentenced to commitment.
Patron: Lewis
Possession or transportation of explosives by convicted felons; penalties. Prohibits a convicted felon from possessing or transporting explosive material, e.g., gunpowder, blasting material, fuses, etc.
Impact Statements
Patron: Lingamfelter
Forfeiture; street gangs. Allows for the forfeiture of any property, real or personal, used in connection with street gang activity.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Appeal bonds. Eliminates the current $25 million ceiling on an appeal bond securing non-compensatory damages and establishes in its place a $25 million ceiling on an appeal bond securing all damages awarded the appellee. Provides that where the appellee shows dissipation of assets by the appellant, the court may require the appellant to post a bond or irrevocable letter of credit in an amount up to the full amount of judgment. The bill contains an emergency clause making it effective upon enactment.
Patron: Keister
Firearms; purchase of handguns of certain officers. Permits the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Forestry to allow its retiring officers to purchase their handguns.
Patron: Marrs
Crimes; criminal sexual assault; definition of mental incapacity and physical helplessness; penalty. Provides that a person shall be deemed to have accomplished a sex act against the will of the complaining witness and through the use of the mental incapacity and physical helplessness of the complaining witness if he has, prior to the act complained of, administered a drug or controlled substance to the complaining witness without the consent or knowledge of the complaining witness and the drug had the effect of impairing the judgment, self-control, actions or consciousness of the complaining witness and prevented the complaining witness from understanding the nature or consequences of the sexual act and rendered the complaining witness physically unable to communicate an unwillingness to act.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Recruitment of juveniles for criminal street gang; penalty. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor to recruit an adult into a criminal street gang and increases the penalty for recruiting a juvenile to a Class 6 felony. The bill also creates a Class 6 felony for forcing a person to become a gang member through the use or threat of force against that person or another person.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Crimes; obstruction of justice. The bill makes it a Class 5 felony to obstruct or impede the administration of justice in any court relating to a violation of or conspiracy to violate the prohibition against participating in a criminal street gang or the prohibition against recruiting juveniles to participate in a criminal street gang.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Crimes by gangs; definitions. Includes within the definition of "criminal street gang" the current definition of "pattern of criminal gang activity."
Impact Statements
Patron: Gear
York County Circuit Court. Changes the name of the York County Circuit Court to the York County-Poquoson Circuit Court.
Patron: Abbitt
Malicious injury; law-enforcement officers. Adds game wardens to the definition of law-enforcement officer so that the enhanced penalty will apply if they are the victims of malicious or unlawful wounding. Malicious wounding is a Class 3 felony (five-20 years) and malicious wounding of a law-enforcement officer is five-30 years with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of two years. In the case of unlawful wounding the penalty is a Class 6 felony (one-five years) with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year if the victim is a law-enforcement officer.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Buildings that can be burglarized. Broadens the definition of burglary by expanding the list of buildings that can be burglarized to include any building permanently affixed to realty.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Forfeiture on recognizance. Clarifies that a criminal defendant's bond may be forfeited not only upon his failure to appear in court as required but upon his failure to meet the conditions of his recognizance, as well.
Patron: Bell
Crimes; wiretaps. Corrects an oversight in the wording of the current provision making it a crime to intentionally use, or endeavor to use, the contents of any electronic communication, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of an electronic communication.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Custody and confinement for juvenile offenses. Allows juvenile intake officers and magistrates to order confinement of a person 18 years of age or older in a jail rather than a juvenile detention home for an offense that occurred prior to the person obtaining the age of 18. Currently this authority is limited to judges.
Patron: Bell
Assault and battery against a family or household member; penalty. Revises the time period in which three assault and battery against a family or household member convictions must occur in order to have the third one be a felony from 10 years to 20 years.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Infected sexual battery; penalty. Provides that any person who, knowing he is infected with genital herpes, has sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anallingus or anal intercourse with the intent to transmit the infection to another person, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
Impact Statements
Patron: Ingram
Relation back; addition of agent. Authorizes amending a pleading to change the party against whom a claim is asserted so long as either the party or his agent had notice of the institution of the action within the limitations period. Under current law, amendments are permitted only where the party had notice of the institution of the action. Current law authorizing amendments to pleadings based on confusion in trade names contains the "agent" reference in that statute's requirements for actual notice of a claim.
Patron: Shannon
Missing child reports. Requires that local law-enforcement agencies enter descriptive information about a missing child into the National Crime Information Center Computer, forward the report to the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse maintained by the State Police, notify other local law-enforcement agencies, and initiate an investigation within two hours of receiving a report of a missing child. Currently, the law requires that this be done "immediately," but does not define what this means. The amendment clarifies that "immediately" means in no case more than two hours within receipt of the report.
Patron: Hurt
Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry Act. Adds to the list of those required to register under the act, any person who has solicited or has attempted to solicit, by use of a communications system, (i) a person under 18 years of age for the purpose of enticing that person to perform in or be a subject of sexually explicit visual material or otherwise be involved in the production, publication, sale, or possession with the intent to distribute such material, or (ii) a person under the age of 18 years of age for the purpose of violating the law that prohibits the possession of child pornography. The bill also amends the definition of a "sexually violent offense" to include these offenses. The bill also amends the definition of a "sexually violent offense" to include use of a communications system to solicit a person under the age of 18 to go to a bawdy place for purposes of prostitution or unlawful sexual intercourse or to marry another person by threat or duress, or for an individual to use a communication system to solicit a person under the age of 18 for purposes of committing a crime against nature or taking indecent liberties with children.
Patron: McDougle
Procedure for taking blood samples. Adds pvp iodine and providone iodine as substances that may be used to cleanse the part of the body from which a sample of blood is taken for testing for DUI.
Patron: Cosgrove
Violation of court order regarding custody and visitation; penalty. Raises the penalties for first, second and subsequent violations committed by any person who knowingly, wrongfully and intentionally withholds a child from either of a child's parents or other legal guardian in a clear and significant violation of a court order respecting the custody or visitation of such child.
Impact Statements
Patron: Byron
Identity theft; fictitious name; identity theft passport; Attorney General to conduct criminal prosecutions; day care records; penalties. Authorizes the Attorney General, at the specific request of the Governor and with the concurrence of the attorney for the Commonwealth, to institute or conduct criminal prosecutions in the circuit court for the crimes of identity theft (§ 18.2-186.3) and the use of a person's identity with the intent to intimidate, coerce, or harass (§ 18.2-186.4). The bill allows for a conviction under the identity theft statutes when the defendant uses a false or fictitious name. The bill requires the DMV, upon notification from the Attorney General that an Identity Theft Passport has been issued to a driver, to note the same on the driver's abstract. The bill directs child day programs that reproduce or retain documents of a child's proof of identity and age that are required upon the child's enrollment into the program to destroy them upon the conclusion of the requisite period of retention. The procedures for the disposal, physical destruction or other disposition of the proof of identity containing social security numbers shall include all reasonable steps to destroy such documents by (i) shredding, (ii) erasing, or (iii) otherwise modifying the social security numbers in those records to make them unreadable or indecipherable by any means.
Impact Statements
Patron: Reese
Pleadings and other papers signed by nonattorneys. Provides that a corporate officer (with the approval of the board of directors) or a manager, general partner or trustee, may in writing authorize an employee, a person licensed under the provisions of § 54.1-2106.1 (real estate brokers and salespersons), a property manager, or a managing agent to (i) sign a warrant in debt, motion for judgment, warrant in detinue, distress warrant, summons for unlawful detainer, counterclaim, crossclaim, suggestion for summons in garnishment, garnishment summons, writ of possession, writ of fieri facias, interpleader and civil appeal notice filed in general district court, and (ii) appear in court to obtain a judgment for possession or for rent and damages. Under current law, the only non-lawyers who may sign such pleadings are a corporate officer (with the approval of the board of directors), a manager of a limited liability company, a general partner of any form of partnership or a trustee of any business trust, and the only non-lawyers who may appear in court on those pleadings are persons licensed under the provisions of § 54.1-2106.1 (real estate brokers and salespersons) and resident managers.
Patron: Rust
Criminal procedure; admission to bail. Creates a rebuttable presumption against bail for any person who is held in custody when such person is charged with participating in a criminal street gang or the soliciting of a juvenile to participate in a criminal street gang. The bill adds the participation in and the recruitment for a criminal street gang to the list of felonies for which there must be a presentence report unless waived by the court and the defendant and the attorney for the Commonwealth. The bill specifies information regarding gang membership that may be included in the presentence report.
Impact Statements
Patron: Parrish
Notification of school superintendent of criminal street gang activity committed by juvenile. Requires an intake officer to notify the school division superintendent of the filing of a petition against a juvenile in cases involving criminal street gang activity.
Patron: Moran
Abuse and neglect of incapacitated adult. Raises from a Class 6 felony to a Class 4 felony the penalty for abusing or neglecting an incapacitated adult where the abuse or neglect results in serious bodily injury or disease.
Impact Statements
Patron: McDonnell
Sentencing guidelines. Adds to the definition of violent felony offenses the following violations: solicitation to commit murder (§ 18.2-29), conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism (§ 18.2-46.5), possession, etc., of terrorism or hoax device (§ 18.2-46.6), and bioterrorism (§ 18.2-46.7).
Impact Statements