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.
2005 SESSION
Chairman: Kenneth W. Stolle
Clerk: Larry M. Girvin
Staff: Jessica French,Mary K. Felch
Date of Meeting: February 16, 2005
Time and Place: Wednesday, 2:00 PM, Senate Room A
Revised added HB 2921
Patron: Reese
Verdict and judgment; damages. Provides that where the court awards a plaintiff judgment for unlawful detainer or entry, the plaintiff may choose to receive a judgment for possession and the plaintiff may continue the case for up to 90 days in order to establish final rent, damages and other amounts as provided under the lease or Virginia law. At least 15 days prior to any authorized continuance date, the plaintiff shall mail a notice to the defendant, at the defendant’s last known address, advising of (i) the continuance date; (ii) the amounts of final rent, damages, and fees claimed, if known; and (iii) that the plaintiff is seeking judgment for such additional sums.
Patron: Purkey
Immunity for medical services; Board of Medicine to inform licensees. Requires the Board of Medicine to provide its licensees with a full description of the protections from civil liability that may apply where health care services are provided without compensation to a patient of a clinic that is organized in whole or in part for the delivery of health care services without charge.
Impact Statements
Patron: Reese
Removal and appeals to circuit court; jurisdictional amount. Authorizes the circuit court, where any party appeals a case to a circuit court or a case is removed to a circuit court, to permit amendments to increase the amount of the claim above the jurisdictional limits for the general district court. Under current law, the circuit court holds that authority for only those cases the defendant appeals to circuit court.
Patron: Janis
Virginia Litigation Reduction and Consumer Personal Responsibility Act of 2005. Provides that a product liability action may not be asserted against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified food product where the claim arises from an injury, potential injury or death resulting from consumption of a food product and weight gain, obesity or any health condition related to weight gain or obesity. Manufacturers and sellers also are exempted from liability from injury to or the death of a voluntary user of a product, where the injury is caused by an open and obvious danger of the product. "Qualified food products" are those defined in § 201(f) of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321 (f)). Products having an "open and obvious danger" include tobacco products and firearms.
Patron: Janis
Multijurisdiction grand jury may investigate robbery. Includes robbery within the ambit of the multijurisdiction grand jury's investigative functions.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Conservators of the peace. Provides that attorneys for the Commonwealth are conservators of the peace.
Patron: Janis
Health; immunity for disposal of a dead body. Immunizes any funeral service establishment, funeral service licensee, or registered crematory from civil liability for disposing of a dead body unless it acted in bad faith or with malicious intent.
Patron: McDougle
Reckless driving; restricted license. Allows the issuance of a restricted license by a judge who has suspended the license of someone convicted of certain reckless driving offenses. Under current law there is no provision for the issuance of a restricted license for the following reckless driving offenses: faulty brakes, passing on a crest, grade or curve, obstructed view, impaired control, passing two vehicles abreast, driving two abreast in a single lane, passing at a railroad crossing, passing a stopped school bus, failing to give a signal, driving too fast for conditions, exceeding the speed limit, failure to yield right-of-way, and reckless driving on parking lots. Although discretionary with the judge, the period of suspension for these offenses is not less than 60 days nor more than six months. Another statute (§ 46.2-392) provides for a period of suspension of not less than 10 days nor more than six months for reckless driving and allows restricted licenses. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.
Patron: Janis
Administrative Process Act; judicial review. Provides that the right to direct review of an agency action authorized under the Administrative Process Act shall be in addition to, and not in limitation of, the right of any person to seek declaratory relief in cases of actual controversy between such person and any agency concerning any matter, other than the adoption of a regulation or case decision.
Impact Statements
Patron: Janis
Administrative Process Act; exemption for Department of Medical Assistance Services. Provides an exemption from the Administrative Process Act for the withholding of payments by the Department of Medical Assistance Cervices in cases of fraud and willful misrepresentation by providers under the Medicaid program pursuant to 42 CFR § 455.23.
Impact Statements
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Execution of pregnant inmate. Proscribes the execution of an inmate while she is pregnant.
Impact Statements
Patron: Carrico
Driving motor vehicle after ingesting illegal Schedule I or Schedule II drugs; penalty. Makes driving after ingesting specified amounts of illegally possessed Schedule I and Schedule II drugs a violation of the DUI statute.
Impact Statements
Patron: Griffith
Child support arrearages; attorney fees; retention by Department of Social Services. Provides that a court may order that judgments for support arrearages equal to or greater than three months of support and maintenance include reasonable attorney fees. The Department of Social Services is authorized to retain any attorney fees it collects in a special fund dedicated to the support of the Division of Support Enforcement.
Patron: Armstrong
Criminal Procedure; when interest is paid on an award of restitution. Provides that interest on an award of restitution runs from the date of the loss or damage unless the court orders interest to run from a different date.
Patron: Nixon
Clerks of court; posting certain information on the Internet; prohibitions. Extends the sunset clause prohibiting clerks from posting certain information on a court-controlled website from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2007.
Patron: McQuigg
Change of name. Provides that in cases involving a change in a minor's name, where one parent does not join in the name change application, service of the application shall be made on that parent in accordance with the provisions governing service of process in civil actions. Service is not required on any parent who files an answer to the application.
Patron: McQuigg
Involuntary commitment process for persons with mental illness; standard of proof. Provides that the judge must apply the standard of "clear and convincing evidence" during an involuntary commitment hearing for persons with mental illness. Current law requires the judge to make specific findings before issuing an order for involuntary commitment, but does not set forth a standard of proof for the judge to apply when considering the evidence.
Patron: Ware, O.
Blood alcohol tests in civil cases; admissibility of written reports or records. Makes the written reports or records of blood alcohol tests conducted upon persons receiving medical treatment in a hospital or emergency room admissible in evidence in any civil proceeding as a business records exception to the hearsay rule. The protections for confidentiality of medical records and treatment and against civil liability for those taking blood and conducting tests that now apply in criminal proceedings are extended to civil proceedings.
Patron: Joannou
Legal malpractice; Clients' Protection Fund. Requires the Virginia State Bar to assess attorneys who are licensed to practice law in Virginia and engaged in the active practice of law but are not covered by a legal malpractice insurance policy or by the risk management program adopted by the Division of Risk Management $1,500 annually, to be deposited into the Clients' Protection Fund. The requirement does not apply to government attorneys; attorneys employed solely as in-house counsel for a corporation or other business entity; attorneys registered as lobbyists; and other attorneys who do not normally represent the general public.
Impact Statements
Patron: Johnson
Commissioners of accounts; fees. Authorizes a commissioner of accounts, for any services he may perform, to accept a lesser fee than that prescribed by the court or to waive a fee altogether.
Patron: Johnson
Privileged marital communications. Provides that confidential communications made by one spouse to another during the course of the marriage may not be disclosed without the agreement of both spouses regardless of marital status at the time disclosure is proposed. The privilege may not be asserted in any proceeding in which the spouses are adverse parties or are charged with a crime or tort against the person or property of the other or against the minor child of either spouse.
Patron: Marrs
Delinquent juveniles; disposition. Replaces the 12-month period during which the court may defer disposition of a delinquent juvenile with a provision that the court establish a specific period of time giving due regard to the gravity of the offense and the juvenile's history.
Patron: Bell
What constitutes aggravated sexual battery; penalty. Provides that the crime of aggravated sexual battery, a felony punishable by as many as 20 years in prison, is committed when a person sexually abuses a person of any age who is physically helpless. Currently, sexual abuse of a person who is physically helpless is only punishable as aggravated sexual battery if the abused person is 13 or 14 years old.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Sexual crimes. Eliminates in the rape, forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration statutes the different standard that defines the offense if the victim and perpetrator are married to each other. This includes removing from the forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration statutes the provision that such crimes cannot be committed against a spouse unless the spouses were living separate and apart or there was bodily injury caused by force or violence, as the 2002 General Assembly did in the rape statute (often called the marital rape exemption). Because of the equalization of the elements of the offense in the rape, forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration statutes, the marital sexual assault statute is repealed. The bill retains the provisions that allow for counseling and therapy, and discharge and dismissal.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Crimes; child endangerment. Eliminates the requirement that a child's physical injury be inflicted by a member of the household so that a person in custody who fails to secure medical attention for the child is guilty of failing to secure medical attention for the injured child, a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Underage drinking and possession of alcohol; penalties. Clarifies the provisions of the crime of underage drinking and alcohol possession. The bill criminalizes underage consumption and punishes anyone who aids or assists in providing alcohol to an underage person with a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron: Bell
Civil immunity; school employees or volunteers reporting alleged acts of bullying or crimes. Immunizes school employees or volunteers from civil liability for reporting alleged acts of bullying or crimes against others, if the report is made in good faith promptly to the appropriate school official in compliance with specified procedures.
Impact Statements
Patron: Lingamfelter
Impeding a criminal investigation. Provides that any person, with actual knowledge of the commission of a murder by another, who willfully conceals, alters, dismembers, or destroys any item of evidence with the intent to delay, impede, obstruct, prevent, or otherwise hinder the investigation, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of any person regarding such offense, is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The bill also provides that if the underlying offense is a felony other than murder against a person other than the victim of the crime, then such person is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
Impact Statements
Patron: Griffith
Judicial discretion to require registration of minor who commits an otherwise registrable offense. Provides that a sex offender or child criminal offender who is a juvenile tried as a juvenile and found delinquent of any registrable offense may be required to register after the court considers the following factors relevant to the case: (i) the age and maturity of the complaining witness, (ii) the age and maturity of the offender, (iii) the difference in the ages of the complaining witness and the offender, (iv) the nature of the relationship between the complaining witness and the offender, (v) the offender's prior criminal history, (vi) any other aggravating or mitigating factors relevant to the case, and (vii) whether the offense was committed with force, threat or intimidation. The section applies to offenses that occur on or after July 1, 2005. Current law does not require the registration of juveniles who are not tried and convicted as adults.
Impact Statements
Patron: Barlow
Accountings to the commissioner of accounts; no requirement where beneficiary is trustee. Eliminates the requirement to account to a commissioner of accounts with respect to a testamentary trust where the sole beneficiary is also a trustee. A “sole beneficiary” includes a person who is the sole income beneficiary and has either a general power of appointment over the principal or has a special power of appointment that is not limited to a particular class of persons.
Patron: Nixon
Requirement that licensed professionals give notice of their sex offender registration to customers, clients or patients; penalty. Requires that a professional licensed by the Commonwealth who is also a registered sex offender and who may be expected to encounter a person under the age of 18 during the course of his profession give verbal and written notice to each customer, client or patient and to the parent, guardian or person standing in loco parentis to a minor or person under a disability that he is a registered sex offender.
Patron: May
Virginia Computer Crimes Act; penalties. Updates the Virginia Computer Crimes Act to include recommendations made by the 2004 joint study on Computer Crimes by the Joint Commission on Technology and Science and Virginia State Crime Commission. The bill modernizes definitions to comport with changing technology. The bill adds unauthorized installation of software on the computer of another, disruption of another computer's ability to share or transfer information, and maliciously obtaining computer information without authority as additional crimes of computer trespass, a Class 1 misdemeanor and provides the fraudulently gathering of such information as a Class 6 felony, a new crime and punishes transferring the information to another or use of the information as a Class 5 felony. Lastly, the bill reduces the threshold for property damage resulting from trespass to $1,000.
Impact Statements
Patron: Welch
Electronic summons may be used for reportable motor vehicle law violations; citations. Provides that an electronic summons may be used in lieu of a paper summons for reportable motor vehicle violations.
Patron: Melvin
Probation and parole; notice of transfer hearing; court order for supervision. Requires the attorney for the Commonwealth to notify the court service unit of the need for a transfer report upon motion of the Commonwealth for a transfer hearing.
Patron: Van Landingham
Fiduciaries; obligation to report nonresident status; penalty. Requires a fiduciary to notify the clerk and commissioners of accounts when he no longer is resident in Virginia, and of his new address, within 30 days after the change in residency. Failure to report the change in resident status and new address may result in imposition of a $50 civil penalty upon the fiduciary. This requirement does not apply to any fiduciary whose cofiduciary is a Virginia resident.
Impact Statements
Patron: Kilgore
Commissioners in chancery; appointment for good cause. Provides that commissioners in chancery may be appointed only by agreement of the parties with the concurrence of the court, upon motion of a party, or upon the court's own motion. The court must make a finding of good cause shown for appointing a commissioner in chancery in each individual case.
Patron: Kilgore
Persons who may witness an advance directive. Authorizes any person over the age of 18, including a spouse or blood relative of the declarant, to serve as a witness for the advance directive. Current law prohibits a spouse or blood relative from serving as a witness.
Patron: Byron
What constitutes indecent exposure; penalty. Punishes public, obscene fondling of genitalia, for the purpose of self-arousal, through the clothing or beneath the clothing as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Computer crimes; penalties. Revises provisions in the Virginia Computer Crimes Act relating to computer fraud and redefines computer invasion of privacy by including the unauthorized gathering of identifying information and punishes subsequent offenses and transferring the information to another or use of the information in the commission of another crime as a Class 6 felony. Currently, the offense is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Additionally, the fraudulent gathering of such information is punished as a Class 6 felony, a new crime, and transferring the information to another or use of the information in the commission of another crime is a Class 5 felony.
Impact Statements
Patron: Hurt
State Treasurer; unclaimed property; recovery of costs. Authorizes the State Treasurer, where a payment for a claim for property held by the Treasurer is allowed, to deduct from that payment the costs for notices, sales, and other related incurred expenses.
Impact Statements
Patron: Hurt
Juvenile and domestic relations district courts; definitions. Eliminates from the definition of "family or household member" language that includes certain in-laws who reside within the same home and replaces that language with "relatives, whether by blood or marriage," who reside within the same home. This definition is also used in sections that: prohibit recruitment of gang members by threats or force; criminalize assault and battery against a family member; criminalize stalking; allow an arrest without a warrant in certain instances when there is an assault and battery against a family member; authorize a court to exclude family members from a dwelling when a order is pending for divorce; and in the unfair insurance trade practices provisions.
Patron: Hurt
Juvenile court petitions. Provides that matters involving custody and visitation of a child may be commenced with the filing of a single petition where all parties are the same.
Patron: Hurt
Driving under the influence. Clarifies provisions in the driving under the influence laws, particularly in the refusal statute. The bill spells out the procedure for charging a person with refusal. A law-enforcement officer will have to read the refusal form only to persons who refuse to take a blood or breath test.
Patron: McDonnell
Speedy trial. Provides than an arrest on an indictment, warrant, information or presentment is deemed to occur only when the summons or capias is served and executed on the accused and that the lodging of a detainer does not constitute an arrest. The bill also provides for tolling of the speedy trial statute upon the occurrence of a natural disaster, civil disorders, or act of God.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Criminal cases; mental health reports. Provides that in any criminal case where the defendant's sanity is in issue and defendant obtains his own expert to evaluate him, the expert shall prepare a full report and shall provide it to the attorney for the Commonwealth.
Patron: Pollard
Subsequent offenses of stalking. Provides that a second stalking conviction occurring within two years shall be a Class 6 felony rather than a Class 1 misdemeanor. Currently there is no such increased penalty. This would complement the existing increased penalty (from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony) that results from a third or subsequent conviction within five years.
Impact Statements
Patron: Bell
Crimes; driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Provides that the defined term "motor vehicle," which includes mopeds while operated on the public highways of this Commonwealth, applies to all of the provisions of the article of the Code establishing the DUI laws.
Patron: Albo
Underage alcohol possession or use; penalties. Punishes providing alcohol to someone who is underage, intoxicated, or interdicted by a one-year license suspension. The bill also punishes consumption of alcohol by someone who is underage.
Patron: Scott, E.T.
Arrest upon a misdemeanor capias. Provides that when a law-enforcement officer makes an arrest upon a misdemeanor capias, it is not necessary that he have the capias in his possession.
Patron: Sherwood
Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry Act; registration; enforcement. Amends the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry Act to add murder of a child under 15 to the list of crimes for which registration is required, and sexual battery against a child under six to those crimes classified as sexually violent offenses. The bill requires that a sex offender who must register in his home state register in Virginia when he moves here, regardless of whether the underlying criminal offense is similar to a Virginia offense. The bill also requires the registration of a nonresident in Virginia for an extended visit. Finally, the bill clarifies that local law-enforcement agencies have the authority to enforce the provisions of the Act.
Impact Statements
Patron: Weatherholtz
Location and jurisdiction of wiretaps. Redefines jurisdiction for the purposes of electronic or wire interceptions to provide that such communications shall be deemed to be intercepted in the jurisdiction where the order is entered, regardless of the physical location or the method by which the communication is captured or routed to the monitoring location. The bill also provides that an application for an ex parte order authorizing that a pen register or trap and trace device may be filed in the jurisdiction where the person or persons who subscribe to the communication system live, work, or maintain an address and that such installation shall be deemed to occur in the jurisdiction where the order is entered, regardless of the physical location or the method by which the information is captured.
Patron: Black
Adoptions; investigation by circuit court. Requires the circuit court's investigation of a petitioner for adoption to include an inquiry into whether the petitioner is known to engage in current voluntary homosexual activity or is unmarried and cohabiting with another adult to whom he is not related by blood or marriage.