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2007 SESSION

070022776
SENATE BILL NO. 1298
Offered January 10, 2007
Prefiled January 10, 2007
A BILL to amend and reenact § 9.1-126 of the Code of Virginia, relating to reporting of criminal history.
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Patrons-- Newman; Delegate: Byron
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Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 9.1-126 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 9.1-126. Application and construction of article.

A. This article shall apply to original or copied criminal history record information, maintained by a criminal justice agency of (i) the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions and (ii) the United States or another state or its political subdivisions which exchange such information with an agency covered in clause (i), but only to the extent of that exchange.

B. The provisions of this article shall not apply to original or copied (i) records of entry, such as police blotters, maintained by a criminal justice agency on a chronological basis and permitted to be made public, if such records are not indexed or accessible by name, (ii) court records of public criminal proceedings, including opinions and published compilations thereof, (iii) records of traffic offenses disseminated to or maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of regulating the issuance, suspension, revocation, or renewal of drivers' or other operators' licenses, (iv) statistical or analytical records or reports in which individuals are not identified and from which their identities cannot be ascertained, (v) announcements of executive clemency, pardons, or removals of political disabilities, (vi) posters, announcements, or lists for identifying or apprehending fugitives or wanted persons, (vii) criminal justice intelligence information, or (viii) criminal justice investigative information. Except as provided in § 15.2-1722, nothing contained in this article shall be construed as requiring any criminal justice agency to collect, maintain, or update criminal history record information, as defined in § 9.1-101, when such information is already available on the case management system accessible through the Internet website of the Supreme Court of Virginia.   

C. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed as prohibiting a criminal justice agency from disclosing to the public factual information concerning the status of an investigation, the apprehension, arrest, release, or prosecution of an individual, the adjudication of charges, or the correctional status of an individual, which is related to the offense for which the individual is currently within the criminal justice system. Before making any disclosure to the public of criminal history record information, a criminal justice agency shall verify the accuracy of the information to be disclosed via the case management system accessed through the Internet website of the Supreme Court of Virginia, if the information is available thereon.