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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2008 SESSION
Reynolds (Chairman), Saslaw, Stolle, Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, D. Cotter
Date of Meeting: February 14, 2008
Time and Place: 7:30 AM, Third Floor EAST Conf. Room, General Assembly Bldg.
Patron: Cosgrove
Driving while intoxicated; elimination of requirement that intoxicant be self-administered. Eliminates the requirement that a person be under the influence of a self-administered intoxicant or drug in order to be convicted of driving while intoxicated. Instead, a person may be convicted if he operates a motor vehicle while under the influence of any self-administered narcotic drug or any other intoxicant or drug or any such substance he knows was administered to him.
Patron: Valentine
Criminal procedure; provisions applicable to witnesses in criminal as well as civil cases; obligation to attend; summons. Eliminates § 8.01-407.1 from the sweep-in provision of the section since the provisions of § 8.01-407.1 apply only to civil cases.
Patron: Hogan
Master Settlement Agreement; enforcement requirements for tobacco product manufacturers; national sales information. Requires every tobacco product manufacturer whose cigarettes are to be sold in the Commonwealth to submit, as a condition of selling cigarettes in the Commonwealth, to the Attorney General a true and correct copy of each annual return or report filed with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for federal excise tax purposes. Failure to submit the annual return or report will result in the loss of the tobacco manufacturer’s authority to sell cigarettes in the Commonwealth after 30 day’s notice. This bill also provides provisions for the protection of the annual return data once in the possession of the Attorney General.
Patron: Janis
Self defense and defense of others. Provides that any person who lawfully occupies a dwelling is justified in using any degree of physical force, including deadly physical force, against another person when the other person has unlawfully entered the dwelling, has committed an overt act toward the occupant or another person in the dwelling, and the occupant reasonably believes he or another person in the dwelling is in imminent danger of bodily injury. The bill also provides that a person who uses justifiable force against an intruder shall be immune from civil liability for injuries or death of the other person.
Patron: Janis
Preliminary protective orders; stalking; extension. Allows the court to extend a preliminary protective order for a period of up to six months if the respondent fails to appear at the hearing. Language mirrors subsection B of § 16.2-253.1, relating to preliminary protective orders in family abuse cases.
Patron: Janis
Conduct punishable as disorderly conduct. Removes the proviso that conduct punishable elsewhere in the Code as criminal conduct may not also be punished as disorderly conduct. This bill responds to the decision in Battle v. Commonwealth, 50 Va. App. 135, 647 S. E. 2d 499 (2007).
Patron: Kilgore
Affidavit as evidence of sex offender's failure to register; custodian of records. Provides that a person accused of failing to register or reregister as a sex offender may call, in any hearing or trial where an affidavit from the State Police stating the failure to register or reregister is admitted into evidence, the custodian of records issuing the affidavit as a witness. The custodian of records will be considered to be an adverse witness and he shall be summoned and appear at the cost of the Commonwealth.
Patron: Mathieson
Registration procedures under the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Act. Clarifies that the vehicle information currently required to be filed with the registration is motor vehicle, watercraft and aircraft information.
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.
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.
Patron: Griffith
Sentencing proceeding by the jury after conviction. Provides that criminal sentencing by a jury may be done by a different jury if the original jury cannot agree on punishment.
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.
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.
Patron: Marsden
Juvenile records; confidentiality. Allows the Department of Juvenile Justice to share with law enforcement the information of a juvenile, without request, if the Department reasonably believes that it would aid in a criminal investigation involving a criminal street gang as the term is defined in § 18.2-46.1. Also, the bill provides that when such information is exchanged, it shall not include identifying information of the juvenile.
Patron: Janis
Selection of grand jurors. Clarifies that disinterest in outcome is required when a selection of grand jurors is made.