SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
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: March 1, 2004
Time and Place: Monday, 8:00 A.M., Senate Room A
Patron: Reese
Civil jurisdiction in actions of unlawful entry or detainer in general district court. Provides that counter-claims and cross-claims filed in actions for unlawful entry or detainer where the occupant is using the premises primarily for business, commercial or agricultural purposes shall not be subject to the maximum jurisdictional limit of $15,000 applicable in general district court. Under current law, the plaintiff in such actions may sue for more than $15,000 in general district court, but counter-claims and cross-claims are limited to $15,000 or less.
Patron: Albo
Discovery in misdemeanor cases in circuit court. Provides that in any criminal prosecution for a misdemeanor by trial de novo in circuit court, the attorney for the Commonwealth shall have a duty to adequately and fully provide discovery as provided under Rule 7C:5 (district court criminal discovery rule) of the Rules of the Supreme Court. Currently, by law or rule, no discovery is available on appeal of misdemeanor convictions to circuit court.
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Prohibited executions. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall promulgate regulations setting forth procedures to assure that no person sentenced to death shall be put to death while she is pregnant.
Patron: Albo
Jail fees paid by those convicted of crimes. Provides that a sheriff or jail superintendent may charge an inmate convicted of a criminal offense, for each night spent in the facility, an amount equal to the average annual cost to house an inmate for one day at that facility, or he may charge $70 per day, whichever is less. The bill also provides that the sheriff or jail superintendent may not charge the inmate for more than five nights, or $350, whichever is less. The charge is based upon the 2002 average annual, statewide cost of housing a jail inmate of $67.19. The bill also reduces the VASAP fee by $70.
Patron: Athey
Concealed weapons permit. Provides that a valid concealed handgun permit or license issued by another state shall be valid in the Commonwealth, provided the permit holder is not a resident of Virginia and, if the permit does not include a photograph of the holder, he carries a current state or federal government-issued photo identification. Also requires that the Attorney General enter into reciprocal agreements with states that require it for recognition of the validity of Virginia concealed handgun permits. The bill removes the requirement that the out-of-state permit holders meet Virginia requirements for issuance. This bill incorporates HB 641.
Patron: McQuigg
Local, prepayable traffic offenses. Establishes unequivocally the prepayable fine for a local speeding offense at $200, subject to suspension only if the defendant performs some community service.
Patron: Kilgore
Capias for nonsupport. Authorizes a court to issue a civil show cause summons or a capias where it finds that (i) a respondent has failed to comply with an order concerning custody, visitation, support or maintenance and (ii) personal or substitute service has been obtained. Eliminates the requirement that the court act "upon petition."
Patron: Kilgore
Civil immunity for investigation of commissioners of accounts. Provides that members of the Judicial Council's Standing Committee on Commissioners of Accounts who participate in the investigation of a complaint against a commissioner of accounts or a deputy or assistant have civil immunity for acts related to such participation if done in good faith and without malicious intent.
Patron: Griffith
Retroactive application of support orders. Provides that upon proof that either party has committed fraud upon the court, including but not limited to giving false testimony regarding assets and income, the court may issue a new support order, nunc pro tunc to the original date of the hearing at which the fraud was committed, which shall be applied retroactively to increase or decrease the amount of support paid up to the date of the new order.
Impact Statements
Patron: Pollard
Recordation of power of attorney; social security numbers. Provides that the circuit court clerks must accept powers of attorney containing social security numbers for recordation if the person offering the power of attorney authorizes the clerk to cover or conceal temporarily the social security number while the power of attorney is being recorded. This approach accommodates both concerns regarding identity theft and situations where a principal cannot execute a new power of attorney, and an existing power of attorney, containing a social security number, must be recorded.
Patron: Johnson
Privilege as to marital communications. Provides that spoken or written marital communications are completely privileged from disclosure, under a privilege held by both spouses which continues after the marriage is dissolved, except in cases where either spouse is charged with a crime or tort against each other or against the child of either spouse. Under current law, a spouse may disclose otherwise privileged marital communications so long as the disclosure is by a means other than examination in the action or testimony.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Requirements for firearm sales. Provides that for the purpose of firearm purchase, the permanent duty post of a member of the armed services is considered his residence. Where a purchaser presents a copy of his permanent orders assigning him to a duty post in Virginia along with photo-identification issued by the Department of Defense, no other documentation or residency shall be required by the seller. The bill also allows any type of communication authorized by the State Police, and not just a telephone call, to ascertain a prospective purchaser's criminal record. The bill removes the requirement that firearm safety information be posted and handed out where firearms are sold.
Impact Statements
Patron: Lingamfelter
Concealed handgun permit applications; social security numbers. Allows a clerk of court to withhold from public disclosure the social security number in a concealed handgun permit application in response to a request to inspect or copy such permit application. However, the social security number shall not be withheld from a law-enforcement officer acting in the performance of his official duties.
Patron: Janis
Concealed handgun permit; issuance of permit. Provides that a copy of a concealed handgun permit application will become a de facto permit if the court does not grant or deny the permit within 45 days of receipt of the completed application. The bill requires the clerk of the court to record the date that the completed application is received, and certify on the application if no action is taken by the court within the required 45-day time period. The clerk must send a copy of the certified application to the applicant, and the copy will serve as a de facto permit until the court grants a five-year concealed handgun permit or finds the applicant to be disqualified. If the five-year permit is denied, the applicant must surrender the de facto permit to the court. The clerk must also forward a copy of the certified application to the State Police and local law-enforcement agencies, so that the permit's existence and status will be known to law-enforcement agencies.
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 and its affiliates to post a bond or irrevocable letter of credit in an amount up to the full amount of judgment. The bill contains a clause specifying that its provisions are procedural and not substantive in nature.
Patron: Suit
Custody and visitation, best interests of the child. Provides that in considering the best interests of the child with respect to custody and visitation, the court may disregard the propensity of each parent to actively support the child's contact and relationship with the other if the court finds a history of family abuse.
Patron: Suit
Mandatory parenting classes in cases involving custody, visitation or support. Requires the parties to attend parenting classes only where custody, visitation or support is contested. Eliminates the requirement for parenting classes in uncontested cases.
Patron: Drake
State Treasurer; sale of abandoned property. Authorizes the sale of abandoned property other than money or other certificates of ownership through the use of electronic media. Expands the forms of notice of a public sale that is to occur outside the Commonwealth to include post, print, visual, telecommunications, or electronic media or any combination of those forms. All sales through the use of electronic media are deemed to be sales outside the Commonwealth.
Impact Statements
Patron: Keister
Assessment for courthouse and courtroom security. Provides that the fee assessed by counties and cities in criminal and traffic cases of up to $5 shall be appropriated by the governing body to the sheriff's office, and may be used not solely for courthouse security personnel, but also, at the sheriff's request, for courthouse security equipment including but not limited to stationary or moveable metal detectors, panic alarm systems, or loudspeaker systems. This bill incorporates HB 457 and HB 1140.
Patron: Marrs
Child support; extraordinary medical expenses. Makes computation and payment of future extraordinary medical expenses in sole and split custody arrangements identical to that for shared custody arrangements. Under current law, in sole and split custody arrangements, the allowable costs associated with extraordinary medical expenses are added to the basic child support obligation to establish a monthly child support amount. In shared custody arrangements, those costs are allocated in accordance with the parties' income shares and are paid in addition to the basic child support obligation. The approach under the shared custody arrangements permits for more accurate calculation and allocation of extraordinary medical expenses.
Impact Statements
Patron: Hogan
Control of firearms; applicability to authorities and local governmental agencies. Removes the grandfather clause that allows localities to enforce ordinances governing firearms that were passed before January 1, 1987, and affirmatively declares that any local ordinances adopted prior to January 1, 1987 are invalid. The bill also removes language relating to the purchase of handguns that would allow a more stringent local ordinance relating to purchase or transfer of firearms adopted prior to January 1, 1987 to supercede state law relating to purchase or transfer. This change is necessary because the bill would invalidate any such local ordinance. This bill incorporates HB 483.
Patron: Sherwood
Driving after forfeiture of license for DUI conviction. Clarifies that driving in contravention of a restricted license issued after a DUI conviction is equivalent to driving after forfeiture of the license for such a conviction.
Impact Statements
Patron: Janis
Immunity; skydiving. Provides that skydiving activity sponsors or skydiving professionals are not liable for injury to or death of a participant resulting from the inherent dangers of skydiving, and that no participant or his guardian, parent or representative shall have or make any claim or recover for injury, loss, damage or death of a participant resulting from an inherent danger of skydiving.
Patron: Janis
Failing to pay for motor fuel; penalty. Provides that any person who intentionally drives away without paying for motor fuel may be prosecuted for larceny. Currently, it is a $100 civil penalty.
Impact Statements
Patron: Janis
Penalties for aggressive driving. Allows court to suspend license of and issue a restricted license to a person convicted of aggressive driving.
Patron: Dudley
Detention; appointment of attorney. Requires the appointment of an attorney for a child prior to an initial detention hearing unless an attorney has been retained and appears on behalf of the child; and provides for payment for such court-appointed attorney. Current law requires such appointment prior to the detention review hearing.
Impact Statements
Patron: Carrico
Driving motor vehicle after ingesting illegal Schedule I or Schedule II drugs. Makes driving after ingesting any amount of illegally possessed Schedule I and Schedule II drugs a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Retired judges and judges sitting by designation. Requires the General Assembly to approve for a term of six years, by the majority vote of each house, each justice and judge eligible to sit during retirement as a substitute or as a judge designate. This bill incorporates HB 770.
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: Bell
Damaging signs. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor (jail for up to 12 months and/or a fine up to $2,500) to deface, damage, knock down, or remove any reflectorized street address sign posted to assist in address identification in connection with enhanced 9-1-1 service.
Impact Statements
Patron: Joannou
Patient health records. Provides that a patient's executor or administrator also may obtain copies of a patient's health care records where the records are requested in anticipation of litigation or in the course of litigation. Currently only a patient, his attorney, or an authorized insurer may obtain copies of the patient's health care records.
Patron: Joannou
Penalizing employee for service on jury panel. Provides that no person who is required to appear for jury duty shall be required to work on the date of his jury service.
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Affirmation of Marriage Act for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Declares as existing policy that the Commonwealth of Virginia does not recognize a marriage, civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement purporting to bestow any of the privileges or obligations of marriage under the laws of another state or territory of the United States unless such marriage conforms to Virginia law.
Patron: Hurt
Capital murder sentencing order. Provides that when a court sets aside a sentence of death and imposes a sentence of imprisonment for life, it shall include in the sentencing order an explanation for the reduction in sentence.
Patron: Hurt
Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission; jurisdiction. Clarifies the jurisdiction of the Commission to include judge designates, retired judges, judges pro tempore, and justices appointed pursuant to § 37.1-88 (justices who adjudicate issues involving persons with mental health problems).
Patron: Hurt
Confidentiality of court records; juveniles. Authorizes the attorney for the Commonwealth to obtain prior adjudications of juvenile offenders from a juvenile and domestic relations district court for use as evidence in a pending criminal prosecution for a violation of § 18.2-308.2 (possession or transportation of firearms, stun weapons, tasers or concealed weapons by a convicted felon). The bill also allows a bondsman to know the status of his bond on a juvenile, without access to any other part of the juvenile's record.
Patron: Eisenberg
Memorials for war veterans; unlawful sale prohibited; penalty. Provides that any person who sells a soldier's grave marker or memorial is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.
Impact Statements
Patron: Drake
Condemnation of lands within adopted conservation or redevelopment plans. Provides that after the adoption of a conservation or redevelopment plan, should any property located within the area of the conservation or redevelopment plan be downzoned without the expressed consent of the property owner, and should the locality initiate condemnation proceedings against that owner after any such downzoning, the date of valuation shall be the date of adoption of the conservation or redevelopment plan.
If the property located within a conservation or redevelopment plan was downzoned without the expressed consent of the property owner within a period of five years prior to the adoption of the conservation or redevelopment plan, and if such downzoning was not part of a comprehensive rezoning of the locality, then, if the locality should initiate condemnation proceedings within five years after the adoption of the conservation or redevelopment plan against the same owner who owned the property at the time of the downzoning, the date of valuation shall be the day before the date the property was downzone.
Patron: Byron
Infected sexual battery; penalty. Provides that any person who, knowing he is infected with HIV, has sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anallingus or anal intercourse with another person without disclosing the existence of his infection to the other person is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Currently, this is a crime if the perpetrator intends to infect the other person.
Impact Statements
Patron: Phillips
Criminal history records search; justices; judges and substitute judges; magistrates. Requires criminal history records checks of all persons elected by the General Assembly as justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the Court of Appeals, and judges of the circuit and district courts, and of all persons appointed by the circuit courts as magistrates or substitute judges. The bill also prohibits the appointment of substitute judges and magistrates with certain criminal backgrounds in the same manner as the prohibitions for appointment of special conservators of the peace.
Patron: Pollard
Summoning of grand jurors. Allows the judge or judges of the circuit court who sit in a county or city to prepare the list of grand jurors. Current law seems to require that all the judges of a circuit participate in the selection and the signing of the court orders, etc.
Patron: Howell, A.T.
Judgment debtors; abbreviated social security numbers. Provides that only the last four digits of the social security number of the judgment debtor shall appear on a copy of a docketed judgment, a writ of fieri facias and any attachments thereto, or a garnishment summons.
Patron: Albo
Criminal penalty revisions. Adds a new felony class of five to 40 years to the existing six classes in order to classify as many unclassified felonies as possible. A Class 1 felony (life imprisonment or death sentence) is renamed a capital felony and a Class 2 felony (20 years to life) is renumbered a Class 1 felony. The new felony of five to 40 years becomes a Class 2 felony. The crimes of abduction and assault are broken into degrees. The penalties for malicious wounding of a police officer and malicious wounding with a caustic substance are raised to Class 2 felonies (five to 40 years) from the current penalty of five to 30 years. The "marital exemptions" for forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration are eliminated, as was done with rape during the 2002 General Assembly Session. The penalty for conspiring or attempting to abduct a person is raised to the same level as conspiracies and attempts for other crimes. Many of the revisions made are ancillary Code changes necessitated by the substantive changes. This bill is recommended by the Title 18.2 Study Subcommittee of the Virginia State Crime Commission and is a response to HJR 687 (2001), which requested the Crime Commission to study the organizations and inconsistencies in Title 18.2, the level and extent of penalty and to review the proportionality of criminal penalties. The bill has an effective date of July 1, 2005.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Sexual offenses; penalties. In order to comply with Lawrence v. Texas, 123 S. Ct. 2472 (2003), the bill repeals the statute making fornication a Class 4 misdemeanor and amends the lewd and lascivious behavior statute to specify that the behavior is illegal when performed in a public place. Without repealing the existing crimes against nature statute, the bill proposes a new statute that will ensure that such behavior is illegal when committed in a public place. The bill also amends certain statutes dealing with prostitution and sexual crimes against juveniles to ensure that if there is a court decision rendering the crimes against nature statute invalid, the behavior will still be illegal if committed with a child, if done in public or if done in connection with prostitution.
Impact Statements
Patron: Albo
Repeal of various statutes. Repeals, by recommendation of the Title 18.2 Study Subcommittee of the Virginia State Crime Commission, 13 statutes that have been little used and revises two such statutes. In determining whether to recommend a statute for repeal the Subcommittee looked at various factors, including the date enacted, the number of convictions under the statute, whether the statute was the subject of any appellate court cases and whether the elements of the offenses were covered by other statutes.
Patron: McDonnell
Selected provisions of Title 18.2. Moves certain statutes out of Title 18.2 and into other titles of the Code. Bad check and civil liability provisions are moved to Title 8.01, authorizations for local ordinances are moved to Title 15.2 and nuisance provisions are moved to Title 48. This bill is a recommendation of the Title 18.2 Study Subcommittee of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
Patron: Armstrong
Legal malpractice; negligent concerning an irrevocable trust. Clarifies that a grantor, or, after his death, his personal representative or trustee, may maintain an action for damages, including tax liability, resulting from legal malpractice associated with an irrevocable trust. The action shall survive the grantor's death, shall accrue upon completion of the representation in which the malpractice occurred, and shall be brought within five years (written contract for legal services) or three years (unwritten contract). No action may be maintained where damages reasonably may be avoided or result from a change of law subsequent to the representation in which the damages were sustained. The bill contains a clause stating that it is declaratory of existing law.
The bill modifies the result in the Supreme Court's decision in Charles Rutter, Executor of the Estate of Mildred Duncan v. Jones, Blechman, Woltz & Kelly, PC, et al., 264 Va. 310, 568 S.E.2d 693 (2002). In Rutter, plaintiff executor sought to assert a claim of legal malpractice concerning a revocable trust on the grounds that negligent drafting cost the estate more than $600,000 in tax liability. The Supreme Court held that no cause of action could have accrued during decedent's lifetime because damages were not sustained until her death triggered the tax liability. Because no cause of action existed during decedent's life, § 8.01-25 directed that no cause of action survived her death. This bill ensures that Rutter is not extended to cases involving irrevocable trusts.
Patron: McDonnell
Audiovisual recording of motion pictures unlawful; penalty. Prohibits recording of a motion picture while it is being shown at a movie theater and punishes such behavior as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Impact Statements
Patron: McDonnell
Reimbursement for costs of responding to emergencies. Specifies that reimbursement to a locality for responding to a terrorist emergency may be converted to a judgment upon nonpayment and that failure to satisfy a judgment to a locality for responding to an emergency call necessitated by a DUI results in suspension of the person's driver's license and registration.
Patron: McDonnell
Appointment of magistrates. Provides that the authority of the chief circuit court judge to appoint magistrates and chief magistrates is to be exercised in consultation with the chief general district and juvenile court judges and that all appointments of magistrates are for four-year terms even if the appointment is to fill a vacancy.
Patron: McDonnell
Fixed fee for misdemeanors, etc. Provides that court costs in criminal and traffic matters in district court are to be charged once for multiple charges arising from a single incident only when those related charges are disposed of at the same time.
Impact Statements
Patron: McDonnell
Appeals of juvenile court decisions. Requires the circuit court to hold a hearing on the merits of any appeal of a finding of delinquency or the disposition within 45 days of its filing, if the juvenile is in a secure facility pending appeal. Those limitations are tolled for any period of escape, and the court may extend the time limit for good cause shown as documented in the case record. If either the juvenile or the attorney for the Commonwealth has appealed a transfer decision, the circuit court must hear the appeal within 45 days after receiving the case from the juvenile court.
Impact Statements
Patron: Kilgore
Additional fees in certain courts; use by the Virginia State Bar. Increases by $1 court fees in law and chancery cases in circuit court and in each civil action in general district court. The additional dollar is paid into a special fund (Legal Aid Services Fund) within the Virginia State Bar. The increases sunset on July 1, 2006.
Impact Statements
Patron: Kilgore
Legal aid societies. Requires the Virginia State Bar to provide a check-off box on its annual bar dues statement for voluntary monetary contributions to Legal Services Corporation of Virginia.
Impact Statements
Patron: Cline
Concealed handgun permits. Exempts retired officers of the law-enforcement division of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission from concealed weapons requirements. The bill also exempts certain retired law-enforcement officers who have reached the age of 55, other than officers terminated for cause, from the requirements. The bill provides that an order denying the issuance of a concealed handgun permit must state the basis for the denial and advise the applicant as to his right to and requirements for perfecting an appeal of the order. A law-enforcement officer with the U.S. Marshals Service would not have to pay a fee for a concealed handgun permit. For purposes of reciprocity, the official government-issued law-enforcement identification card issued to an active-duty law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth who is exempt from obtaining a concealed handgun permit shall serve as the officer's concealed handgun permit. Finally, the bill sets forth a definition of a "law-enforcement officer" to be used throughout § 18.2-308 that includes individuals defined as a law-enforcement officer in § 9.1-101, including full-time law-enforcement officers employed by a law-enforcement agency of the United States or a political subdivision who perform similar duties to those set forth in § 9.1-101; campus police officers; law-enforcement agents of the United States Armed Forces; and federal agents authorized to carry weapons.
Impact Statements
Patron: Athey
Notice of sale by trustee; instrument of appointment. Provides that the notice of sale that a trustee must give to the present lienholder, any subordinate lienholder, and other interested parties must include, in addition to the time, date and place of any proposed sale, the instrument number or deed book and page numbers of the instrument of appointment for the trustee or substitute trustee.
Patron: Bell
Venue for criminal sexual assault prosecutions. Provides that the venue for trial of any person transporting or attempting to transport through or across this Commonwealth, any person for the purposes of committing or attempting to commit criminal sexual assault is in any county or city in which any part of such transportation occurred and that the trial of any person charged with committing or attempting to commit criminal sexual assault against a person under 18 years of age is the county or city in which the crime is alleged to have occurred or in the county or city where the person under 18 years of age resided at the time of the offense.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Pneumatic guns. Allows a locality to regulate or restrict the use of pneumatic guns by ordinance, including requiring that minors under the age of 16 have adult supervision when using pneumatic guns. No such ordinance shall prohibit the use of pneumatic guns at shooting ranges or other property where firearms may be discharged. Commercial or private areas may be established for the use of pneumatic paintball guns, but such areas must provide protective equipment for the face and ears of participants, and signs must be posted warning against entry into the area by unprotected persons. The bill defines a "pneumatic gun" as an implement, designed as a gun, that expels a BB or pellet by action of pneumatic pressure. The bill clarifies definitions of other types of firearms to distinguish between firearms and pneumatic guns. The bill states that if a school operates a Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) program, the school cannot prohibit the JROTC from conducting marksmanship training that includes the use of pneumatic guns. However, students may be suspended for up to one year if they bring a pneumatic gun onto school property or to a school-sponsored activity without permission from the school administrator or the military commanding officer of a JROTC program.
Impact Statements
Patron: Cox
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Establishes civil law protections for servicemembers, consistent with federal law. Blocks entry of default judgment absent an affidavit stating whether the defendant is in military service, or that the plaintiff does not know if he is in such service. Authorizes setting aside default judgments against servicemembers as provided by federal law. Authorizes appointment of counsel to a servicemember defendant in accordance with federal and state law (§ 44-102.1, benefits and protections for Virginia National Guard members called to active duty), and permits the court to assess the attorney's costs and expenses against any party to the case.
Patron: Janis
Total Return Unitrust. Allows a trustee to convert a Virginia trust that directs or permits the distribution of trust net income (an income trust) into a unitrust that distributes a percentage of the trust assets. This bill provides statutory authority that is responsive to federal regulations revising the definition of income for federal tax law purposes. Those federal regulations in turn are responsive to changes in state law, including Virginia law, that permit trusts to use a total return method of investing to promote equitable treatment of trust beneficiaries. This bill codifies in Virginia law the safe harbor provisions of the federal regulations so that Virginia has full authority for converting an income trust to a total return trust, thus ensuring that Virginia trusts will not migrate to other states that have enacted the safe harbor provisions in state law.
Impact Statements
Patron: Armstrong
Mechanic's lien; attachment to easement. Clarifies that any mechanic's lien associated with work or materials furnished relative to an easement shall attach only to that easement and not to fee simple title to the real estate.
Patron: Kilgore
Drug treatment courts. Establishes drug treatment courts as specialized court dockets within the existing structure of Virginia's court system, offering judicial monitoring of intensive treatment and strict supervision of addicts in drug and drug-related cases.
Impact Statements