SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2008 SESSION

  • print version
Senate Committee on Courts of Justice

Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, D. Cotter
Date of Meeting: February 25, 2008
Time and Place: 9:00 AM, Senate Room A, General Assembly Building
Criminal Sub. bills heard 1st - remainder in Patron Sign-Up order

H.B. 34

Patron: Ingram

Aggravated sexual battery; penalty.  Provides that a person 18 years of age or older is guilty of a Class 6 felony if he, with lascivious intent, knowingly and intentionally kisses a child under the age of 13 on the mouth while penetrating the mouth of such child with his tongue.

H.B. 91

Patron: Albo

Driving without a driver's license; penalties. Provides that any person charged with driving without first having obtained a valid driver's license shall be placed under arrest and shall have his fingerprints and photograph taken.

H.B. 93

Patron: Moran

Supplementing compensation of public defenders. Permits counties or cities that have public defender offices to supplement, payable from their own funds, the compensation of the public defender or his deputies or employees in excess of the compensation fixed by the executive director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission.

H.B. 159

Patron: Albo

Stolen property; criminal investigation.  Provides that if a person buys or receives any goods used in the course of a criminal investigation by law-enforcement that the person believes are stolen, he is deemed guilty of larceny of the goods.

H.B. 181

Patron: Marshall, R.G.

Juror information confidential. Provides that a court may in a criminal trial, upon the motion of either party or its own motion, and for good cause shown, issue an order regulating the disclosure of personal information of a juror to any person other than the counsel for either party. Good cause shown includes, but is not limited to, a likelihood of bribery, tampering, or physical injury to or harassment of a juror. "Personal information" is defined as any information collected by the court, clerk, or jury commissioner including, but not limited to, a juror's name, age, occupation, home and business addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and any other identifying information that would assist another in locating or contacting the juror. The bill also directs the Supreme Court to prescribe and publish rules that provide for the protection of a juror's personal information.

H.B. 433

Patron: Miller, J.H.

Forfeiture of motor vehicle for three or more offenses of driving without a valid operator's license.  Provides that any vehicle driven in the commission of a third or subsequent offense of driving without a valid operator's license shall be subject to forfeiture.

H.B. 527

Patron: Pogge

Retention of fingerprints of juveniles given deferred disposition in a criminal case. Requires that fingerprints of a juvenile whose criminal charges are deferred and dismissed be sent to and retained by the Central Criminal Records Exchange. Currently such fingerprints are retained only upon a finding of delinquency or guilt.

H.B. 567

Patron: Crockett-Stark

Sex offenses prohibiting entry onto school property; penalty.  Provides that every adult who is convicted of a sexually violent offense, as defined in § 9.1-902, shall be prohibited from entering and being present upon any property he knows or has reason to know is a public or private elementary or secondary school or child day center property. Currently, the prohibition only applies during school hours.

H.B. 622

Patron: Brink

Sex offenses prohibiting residing in proximity to children; penalty. Prohibits a person convicted of certain sex offenses from living within 500 feet of a public park that is adjacent to a primary, secondary or high school. A violation is a Class 6 felony and there is an exception if the public park was established within 500 feet of the offender's residence subsequent to his conviction.

H.B. 623

Patron: Miller, J.H.

Enforcement of immigration laws; agreement with United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.  States that it is the responsibility of the Governor to enter into a memorandum of agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would allow designated state and local law-enforcement officers to perform certain federal immigration law functions in the Commonwealth. Such an agreement is often referred to as an agreement under the federal 287(g) program.

H.B. 903

Patron: Putney

Magistrates. Reforms the magistrate system by transferring appointment and supervisory responsibilities from the circuit court judges to the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court. The bill requires certain minimum educational requirements for magistrates and also broadens magistrates' geographical assignment from within a particular judicial district to regions established by the Executive Secretary.

H.B. 926

Patron: Byron

Professions and occupations; unlawful acts; employing illegal aliens.  Authorizes the involuntary termination of the license for up to one year of a cooperation, foreign corporation, limited liability company, foreign limited liability company, business trust, or foreign business trust, upon the conviction for a violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(f), as amended, for actions of its officers or directors, members or managers, or trustees or beneficial members for employing unauthorized aliens in the Commonwealth.  Such convictions must be reported to the State Corporation Commission as a part of the corporate annual report.  This bill incorporates HJR 227 (Cosgrove).

H.B. 965

Patron: Shannon

Victims Compensation Fund; stalking. Amends the definition of victim under the Fund to protect people who have been stalked.

H.B. 982

Patron: Nutter

Concealed handgun permits; access to permittee information.  Protects from public disclosure permittee names and descriptive information held by the Department of State Police for purposes of entry into the Virginia Criminal Information Network. However, the information would still be available to law-enforcement agencies, officers, and agents in the course of law-enforcement duties, and non-identifying statistical information would be available to the general public. The bill also prohibits a clerk of court from disseminating any personal identifiable information, such as address, phone, number, or social security number, but allows the clerk, in his discretion, to make available the names of persons issued concealed handgun permits by the court.  This bill incorporates HB 370, HB 653, and HB 843.

H.B. 990

Patron: Bell

Definition of pyramid promotional schemes; penalty.  Redefines activities described as "pyramid promotional schemes".  The bill also includes pyramid schemes among prohibited consumer practices.

H.B. 995

Patron: Bell

Unlawful filming of another. Adds the misdemeanor offense of unlawful filming of another to the statute that makes the third offense of certain misdemeanor sex offenses a Class 6 felony.  Under current law unlawful filming involving a nonconsenting person under the age of 18 is a Class 6 felony.

H.B. 996

Patron: Bell

Presumption of no bail upon conviction of a violent felony.  Provides that when a judicial officer considers bail, he shall presume, subject to rebuttal, that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person or the safety of the public if the person has been convicted of, but not sentenced for, any crime for which bail is presumed unavailable at charge, a violent felony as defined in § 17.1-805, or an attempt to commit any such offense.

H.B. 1043

Patron: Watts

Use of polygraph on sex offense victims. Provides that no complaining witness of any alleged offense involving criminal sexual activity shall be requested to submit to a polygraph examination as a condition of proceeding with an investigation of the offense.

H.B. 1044

Patron: Watts

Sex Offender Registry.  Makes it perfectly clear that persons convicted under certain Code sections that were amended by the 2007 General Assembly must register even though the sections have been rewritten. The bill requires the registration of any conviction of certain crimes involving use of a communications system to facilitate certain offenses involving children rather than current law which requires registration only when the victim is a minor or is physically helpless; because the crime exists only if the victim is a minor. The bill also revises definitions to make it clear that an out-of-state conviction for a registerable offense has the same status as a Virginia conviction.

H.B. 1178

Patron: Lingamfelter

Forgery; penalty. Provides that anyone who affixes a facsimile or likeness of the signature of another person to a writing, with the intent to create the false impression that the writing was signed by that person, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

H.B. 1179

Patron: Lingamfelter

Criminal procedure; admission to bail.  Adds a presumption, subject to rebuttal, against admitting to bail any person who commits a second or subsequent assault and battery against a family or household member.

H.B. 1207

Patron: Melvin

Serious juvenile offenders. Allows a juvenile convicted as an adult and sentenced to an active term of incarceration with the Department of Juvenile Justice and followed by an active term of incarceration with the Department of Corrections to gain earned sentence credits while serving the juvenile portion of the sentence in a juvenile correctional center.

H.B. 1241

Patron: Moran

Elements of credit card theft.  Provides that a person who possesses a credit card of another, when the card was taken, obtained or withheld from another person, possession, custody or control of the card without the cardholder's consent, is guilty of credit card theft. This punishes possession of a stolen credit card as theft of a credit card and responds to the holding in Meeks v. Commonwealth, Record No. 062452, (Virginia Supreme Court, Nov. 2, 2007) in which it was held that a person who took a credit card in Fairfax County could not be prosecuted for credit card theft in Arlington.

H.B. 1258

Patron: Marsden

Expungement of juvenile records.  Requires that when a clerk destroys records pursuant to a juvenile record expungement, he shall destroy all records, including electronic records.

H.B. 1298

Patron: Frederick

Public body contracts; illegal alien employment. Requires that all public bodies provide in every contract of more than $10,000 that the contractor does not, and shall not during the performance of the contract for goods and services in the Commonwealth, knowingly employ an unauthorized alien as defined in the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

H.B. 1302

Patron: Nichols

Incident management. Provides that if a vehicle accident occurs on a highway, each vehicle shall be removed to the nearest exit ramp or parking area and also includes the nearest exit ramp or parking area in the definition of "scene of the accident." Also makes other technical amendments to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of incident management in the Commonwealth.

H.B. 1362

Patron: Cline

Misuse of public assets. Provides that any officer, agent, or employee of the Commonwealth, or of any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision who, without lawful authorization, uses or permits the use of public assets for private or personal purposes when the value of such use exceeds $1,000 in any 12-month period, is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The bill defines public assets as any personal property or services belonging to or paid for by a public body.

H.B. 1363

Patron: Cline

Trademarks and service marks; penalties. Expands the scope of laws protecting trademarks and service marks to include such marks registered with other states and the federal government, and makes it unlawful to cause confusion or reproduce, counterfeit, or colorably imitate a registered mark. The penalties for violations are increased from a Class 2 to a Class 1 misdemeanor unless the offense involves 100 or more counterfeit marks or counterfeit items with a value of more than $200, in which case the penalty is a Class 6 felony. In addition, counterfeit articles are subject to forfeiture.

H.B. 1395

Patron: Bell

Policies for responding to crimes involving sexual assault.  Requires that the Department of State Police and local law-enforcement agencies establish written policies and procedures regarding response to incidents involving sexual assault. The Department of Criminal Justice Services is directed to provide law-enforcement agencies with technical support and assistance in developing the policies and procedures.

H.B. 1439

Patron: Frederick

School employees; criminal acts. Requires (i) notification to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the division superintendent of the conviction of any individual committing a felony involving rape or sexual molestation of a child or involving drugs who holds a license issued by the Board of Education; (ii) local school boards to develop policies and procedures to address complaints of sexual abuse of a student by a teacher or other school board employee; (iii) the Board of Education to issue regulations including requirements for the denial, suspension, cancellation, revocation, and reinstatement of licensure in its licensure regulations; (iv) notification to the Board of Education when a licensed employee of a school board is dismissed or resigns for certain convictions of enumerated crimes; and (v) notification to the Superintendent of Public Instruction when any individual holding a license is the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect. There is also a technical amendment.

H.B. 1510

Patron: May

Gang-related criminal information. Requires law-enforcement agencies to forward gang-related criminal information to the Department of State Police for inclusion in the annual Crime in Virginia report. This bill incorporates HB 531.

H.B. 1520

Patron: Massie

Failure to comply with sentencing order; penalty.  Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for willfully and knowingly failing to surrender to jail at the time ordered by the court.

H.B. 1568

Patron: Morrissey

Transfer of juveniles to circuit court; appeal. Clarifies that when a decision to transfer a juvenile from a court not of record to a court of record is made, the court shall consider after-discovered evidence on the issue of transfer, that was not discovered, introduced, and considered during the initial transfer hearing.