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2008 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice
Subcommittee Criminal

Reynolds (Chairman), Saslaw, Stolle, Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, D. Cotter
Date of Meeting: January 22, 2008
Time and Place: 1/2 hr. after adjournment, 3rd Foor East Conference Room

S.B. 26 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act; adds organized dogfighting as qualifying offense.

Patron: Reynolds

RICO; dogfighting.  Adds organized dogfighting as a qualifying offense under the Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.  

S.B. 37 Anti-child exploitation; funding for law enforcement efforts.

Patron: Deeds

Appropriations; funding for anti-child-exploitation law enforcement.  Provides both one-time and ongoing appropriations to fund anti-child-exploitation law-enforcement efforts including the creation of two additional regional Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, one in Southeastern Virginia and one in Richmond/Central Virginia.

S.B. 114 Sex offenders; application of prohibitions & school proximity prohibition to out-of-state violators.

Patron: McDougle

Application of sex offender prohibitions and school proximity prohibitions to out-of-state violators.  Clarifies that all offenses, for which sex offender registration is required and for which other prohibitions apply, include any similar such offenses under the laws of any foreign country or any political subdivision thereof, the United States or any political subdivision thereof, or any such offenses for which registration in a sex offender and crimes against minors registry is required under the laws of the jurisdiction where the offender was convicted.

S.B. 164 Sex offense victims; use of polygraph examination.

Patron: Lucas

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.

S.B. 175 Sex offenders; prohibiting proximity to children.

Patron: Blevins

Sex offenders; proximity to children; penalties.  Prohibits sex offenders from entering school and child day center property and from loitering near or entering community centers, public parks, and recreation centers. The bill also makes the prohibitions apply to persons with out-of-state convictions.

S.B. 221 Reckless driving; penalty for person convicted.

Patron: McDougle

Felony reckless driving; penalty. Provides that every person convicted of reckless driving who knowingly operates a motor vehicle in a manner so gross, wanton, or culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life and thereby causes serious bodily injury to another resulting in permanent and significant physical impairment is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

S.B. 244 Magistrates; reforms system by transferring appointment and supervisory responsibilities.

Patron: Howell

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.

S.B. 310 Restricted driver's licenses; court to provide during period of suspension.

Patron: Reynolds

Restricted driver’s licenses. Authorizes a court to provide a restricted permit to operate a motor vehicle during the period of suspension of a permit to operate a motor vehicle.

S.B. 312 Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund; physical evidence recovery kit reimbursements.

Patrons: Puller, Reynolds

Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund; PERK reimbursements. Allows the Fund to directly reimburse a health care provider for the costs of performing the physical evidence recovery kit (PERK) examinations used in cases of sexual assault.

S.B. 340 Hospitals and health care providers; reducing medical fraud.

Patron: Cuccinelli

Fraud against hospitals and health care providers; penalties.  Provides that it shall be unlawful for any person, with the intent to cheat or defraud a hospital or health care provider, to give a false name, address, or social security number or other form of identification in order to avoid payment for medical services. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony, if the value of service obtained is $1,000 or more, or guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, if the value is less than $1,000. Also this bill requires hospitals to post signs stating that anyone convicted of this crime will be prosecuted and allows hospitals to fingerprint anyone who does not have health insurance, is not eligible for Medicaid, and cannot otherwise show an ability to pay.

S.B. 350 Embezzlement of public funds; misuse or misappropriation of public assets.

Patron: Reynolds

Crimes; embezzlement of public funds.  Provides that embezzlement of public funds can result from the misuse or misappropriation of public assets. The term "public assets" is defined to include, but not be limited to, accounts, documents, resources, equipment, records, materials, vouchers, property, personnel resources, services, money, or anything of value belonging or owed to the Commonwealth, to any city, town or county, or to any other political subdivision.

S.B. 351 Grand larceny; threshold amount. 

Patron: Reynolds

Grand larceny; threshold amount. Increases from $200 to $500 the threshold amount of money or the value of the goods or chattel that the defendant must take before the crime rises from petit larceny to grand larceny.

S.B. 368 Disregarding signal to stop; endangerment of operation of law-enforcement vehicle, etc., penalty.

Patron: Watkins

Eluding police; penalties. Provides that if a person is killed, whether as the direct or indirect result of the actions of a driver who has disregarded a law-enforcement officer's signal to stop his motor vehicle and who operates his motor vehicle in a willful and wanton disregard of such signal so as to interfere with or endanger the operation of the law-enforcement vehicle or endanger a person, the driver is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The bill also raises from Class 3 to Class 1 the misdemeanor penalty for eluding police. The bill does not change the existing Class 6 felony imposed when the eluding endangers a person or interferes with or endangers the operation of the law-enforcement vehicle.

S.B. 372 Sex offender registry; placement of certain juveniles required.

Patron: Stuart

Placement of juveniles on the sex offender registry.  Provides that juveniles adjudicated delinquent for an offense for which registration on the sex offender registry is required and who are 12 years of age or older at the time of the offense shall be required to register.

S.B. 439 Human immunodeficiency virus, etc.; testing of persons charged with crime against women.

Patron: Vogel

Crimes; violence against women; testing of certain persons for human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses.  Eliminates the procedure for a probable cause hearing to obtain a court order to require a defendant to undergo HIV testing when he has been charged with a defined violent offense against a child or woman and has initially refused an HIV test.

S.B. 504 Assault and battery; penalty when against magistrates, attorneys, jurors, and witnesses.

Patron: Stuart

Assault and battery; penalties.  Adds magistrates, attorneys for the Commonwealth, criminal-case jurors, and criminal-case witnesses who are engaged in their duties to the persons for whom there is an enhanced penalty if the person committing the assault knows or has reason to know the other person's status. The current penalty is a Class 6 felony with a mandatory minimum confinement of six months. This bill raises the penalty to a Class 4 felony with a mandatory minimum confinement of six months, for the added persons and those covered under current law which includes: judges, law-enforcement officers, certain Department of Corrections employees, firefighters, and rescue squad personnel.

S.B. 522 ABC agent; assault and battery against, penalty.

Patron: Locke

Assault and battery; ABC agent, penalty.  Adds special agents of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to the definition of law-enforcement officer, which means that the punishment for committing an assault and battery on a special agent engaged in the performance of his public duties is elevated from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony with a six-month mandatory minimum term of confinement.

S.B. 562 Methamphetamine; manufacturing, selling, giving, and distributing thereof, penalty.

Patron: Obenshain

Manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing of methamphetamine; penalty.  Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person who manufactures, sells, gives, distributes, or possesses with intent to manufacture, sell, give, or distribute 28 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers, or salts of its isomers is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $500,000 and imprisonment for not less than five nor more than 40 years, three years of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment to be served consecutively with any other sentence. The bill also provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person who manufactures, sells, gives, distributes, or possesses with intent to manufacture, sell, give, or distribute 227 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers, or salts of its isomers is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000,000 and imprisonment for not less than five years nor more than life, five years of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment to be served consecutively with any other sentence.

S.B. 590 Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; makes various amendments thereto.

Patron: Howell

Sex offenders; registration; penalty. Makes various amendments addressing the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry including what crimes require registration, the effect of a failure to register or reregister, the effect of providing false information or failing to provide registration information, and the procedures to petition for removal of a name from the Registry to ensure that Virginia law complies with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. § 16901 et seq.).

S.B. 598 ABC agent; assault and battery against, penalty.

Patron: Norment

Assault and battery; ABC agent, penalty.  Adds special agents of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to the definition of law-enforcement officer, which means that the punishment for committing an assault and battery on a special agent engaged in the performance of his public duties is elevated from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony with a six-month mandatory minimum term of confinement.

S.B. 608 Crimes; effect of subsequent marriage to child over 14 years of age.

Patron: Stolle

Crimes; effect of subsequent marriage to child over 14 years of age. Repeals the code section that provides a defense to carnal knowledge of a 14-year-old female when there is a subsequent marriage of the victim and the perpetrator.