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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: February 26, 2008
Time and Place: 7:30 AM, Third Floor EAST, General Assembly Building
REVISED -- (House Bills rereferred to Subcommittee were added)

H.B. 113

Patron: Ware, R.L.

Disregarding signal to stop; death of person; penalties.  Provides that if a law-enforcement officer is killed or suffers serious bodily injury, as a result of the actions of a driver who has disregarded an 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 increases the penalty for disregarding a signal from a law-enforcement officer to stop or attempting to escape or elude a law-enforcement officer from a Class 3 misdemeanor to a Class 1 misdemeanor.

H.B. 131

Patron: Lewis

Child restraints; penaltiesProvides escalating penalties for repeat violators of the child restraint law.  First time offenders will still be subject to the current civil penalty of fifty dollars, but those convicted of second or subsequent violations will be subject to a Class 3 misdemeanor penalty (fine up to $500).  A third or subsequent conviction may result in driver's license suspension for 30 days.

 

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. 953

Patron: Iaquinto

Abuse or neglect proceedings; videotaped statement. Allows a videotaped statement of an alleged victim to be admissible into evidence in a criminal proceeding for child abuse or neglect if the child is 12 years of age or younger at the time the statement is offered and a number of other conditions are met, including having the alleged victim testify prior to entry of the statement and having all persons present at the time the statement was taken available to testify or be cross-examined at the proceeding where the recording is offered. The proponent of the videotaped statement must give the adverse party 10 days notice prior to the proceeding of his intent to offer the statement as evidence.

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. 1007

Patron: Jones, D.C.

Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center; confidentiality; immunity.  Provides that papers, evidence, information, etc., and databases or other information in the possession of the State Police are confidential and not subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act or the Government Data Collections and Disseminations Practices Act. The bill also provides that employees of the Department and employees of other agencies assigned to the Department are not subject to subpoena in any civil action concerning criminal intelligence information or terrorism investigation. The bill restricts the release or dissemination of information without prior authorization from the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center and punishes any person who knowingly disseminates information with a Class 1 misdemeanor. If such unauthorized release or dissemination results in death or serious bodily injury, such person is guilty of a Class 4 felony.

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. 1407

Patron: Dance

Suspended license; unpaid fines. Authorizes the issuance for good cause shown and upon verification of employment of a six-month restricted permit to operate a motor vehicle during a period of suspension for unpaid fines and costs.

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.