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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2009 SESSION
Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: January 28, 2009
Time and Place: 2:00 PM, Senate Room A
REVISED -- SB1436 added to docket
Patron: Locke
Assault and battery; fire marshals. Adds fire marshals and assistant fire marshals who have police powers to the definition of law-enforcement officer in the assault and battery criminal provision, which means that the punishment for committing an assault and battery on such a person who is 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.
Patron: Locke
Criminal law; fee for person entering VASAP. Increases from $250 to $300 the minimum fee and from $300 to $360 the maximum fee for persons entering VASAP. Upon each biennium beginning July 1, 2012, the maximum fee will increase by a percentage equal to the increase in the Consumer Price Index calculated from the time the fee was last set.
Patron: Marsh
Waiver of payment of interest on fines and costs; incarcerated defendant. Allows the waiver on accrual of interest on criminal or traffic fines or costs to apply to any case of an incarcerated defendant. Current law provides for the interest waiver only for the case for which the defendant is incarcerated.
Patron: Edwards
Divorce; equitable distribution. Provides that unless good cause is shown that there should not be an interim distribution, the court may, upon request of either party, at any time after a request for equitable distribution has been made and prior to the final judgment of equitable distribution, enter an order providing for a partial division of marital property or a distributive award. Any such order entered shall be taken into consideration at trial and proper credit given towards the final distribution of marital property.
Patron: Stuart
Incorporating powers of fiduciary into will or trust instrument; donation of conservation easements. Provides for the power of fiduciaries to donate conservation easements to obtain the benefit of certain estate tax exclusions to be incorporated in any will or trust instrument by statutory reference.
Patron: Stuart
Criminal procedure; interpreter appointed for non-English-speaking defendant. Provides that the cost for such interpreter shall be borne by a defendant who is convicted at trial of the criminal offense.
Patron: Marsh
Confidentiality of court records. Provides that any person, agency, or institution that may inspect juvenile case files shall be authorized to have copies made of such records, subject to any restrictions, conditions, or prohibitions that the court may impose. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.
Patron: Howell
Assault and battery of law-enforcement officer; penalty. Adds Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police officers to the definition of law-enforcement officer, which means that the punishment for committing an assault and battery on such an officer who is engaged in the performance of his public duties is elevated from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony, with a six-month term of confinement, 30 days of which is a mandatory minimum.
Patron: Stuart
School property; sale of certain medicines. Makes the sale of over-the-counter medicines containing dextromethorphan on school property a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron: Miller, J.C.
Process and service fees. Increases from $25 to $35 certain sheriffs' fees for levying upon property or serving an ejectment and from $25 to $50 for serving a writ of possession.
Patron: Hanger
Concealed handguns; restaurants; penalty. Prohibits a person who carries a concealed handgun onto the premises of a restaurant or club from consuming an alcoholic beverage while on the premises. A person who carries a concealed handgun onto the premises of a restaurant or club shall inform a designated employee of the restaurant or club of that fact. A person who consumes alcohol in violation of the provisions of the bill is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor and a person who becomes intoxicated in violation of the provisions of the bill is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron: Herring
Financial exploitation of incapacitated adults; penalty. Creates the crime of financial exploitation of an incapacitated adult when a person responsible for the adult (i) knowingly and willfully uses, obtains, takes, secretes, appropriates, or retains the adult's real or personal property or other thing of value with the intent to defraud or with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the incapacitated adult of the use, benefit, or possession of the subject property or (ii) assists another in doing so. The penalty is a Class 1 misdemeanor if the value is less than $200 in a six-month period and a Class 6 felony if the value is $200 or more in a six-month period.
Patron: Petersen
Department of Criminal Justice Services; Regional Criminal Justice Academy Training Fund; local fees. Limits the amount of the fee that a locality not participating in a regional criminal justice training academy may charge to support training operations to $3 per violation.
Patron: Puckett
Process and service fees. Increases from $25 to $35 certain sheriffs' fees for levying upon property or serving an ejectment and from $25 to $50 for serving a writ of possession.
Patron: Puckett
Expungement of records; victim of identity theft. Relieves the victim of identity theft of any court costs for filing a petition to expunge the criminal records of charges against the victim brought as a result of the identity theft.
Patron: Puckett
Obtaining or attempting to obtain commercial goods or services without payment; penalty. Provides that any person who knowingly, with the intent to defraud, obtains or attempts to obtain, any commercial goods or services without paying therefor is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if the value of the goods or services is less than $200, and is guilty of a Class 6 felony if the value of the goods or services is $200 or more.
Patron: Obenshain
Hanging of noose; penalty. Provides that hanging a noose on the property of another or in a public place with the intent to intimidate is a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Marsh
Year and a day rule repealed. Provides that murder or manslaughter may be prosecuted regardless of the amount of time that has passed between the act or omission causing the death and the death. Under common law, prosecution cannot occur if the victim dies more than a year and a day after the fatal injury was inflicted.
Patron: Hurt
Criminal law; identity theft; penalty; restitution; victim assistance. Clarifies that to obtain money, credit, or anything else of value by using without authorization or permission a person's identifying information is prohibited under the identity theft statutes.
Patron: Hurt
Master Settlement Agreement; criminal enforcement activities; penalty. Makes several changes to enhance criminal enforcement activities. The bill provides that any tobacco product manufacturer, stamping agent, or importer of cigarettes, or any officer, employee, or agent of any such entity, who knowingly makes any materially false statement in reports, documents, and tax returns required to be filed or kept under the Master Settlement Agreement or other substantive law shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony. The Attorney General is authorized to prosecute such cases. The bill also requires persons to file cigarette delivery sales information with the Attorney General in addition to the current requirement that such information be filed with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The bill adds criminal penalties for failure to file the required information; under current law all penalties are civil. The Attorney General is authorized to assess the civil penalties and prosecute criminal violations. In addition, the bill includes within the definition of "racketeering activity" the filing of false reports under the Tobacco Product Manufacturers Act, of false reports of cigarette delivery sales, and of false tobacco tax reports. The effective date of the bill is contingent on the appropriation of funds in 2009 or a subsequent general appropriation act.
Patron: Hurt
Drug Treatment Court Act. Authorizes a drug treatment court for the County of Franklin.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Paramilitary activity; penalty. Makes it a Class 5 felony to provide land or other resources knowing that it will be used to conduct illegal paramilitary activities.
Patron: Stolle
Firearms shows; state police presence. Requires the promoter of a firearms show to arrange and pay for a law-enforcement officer from the Department of State Police to be present at all times during a firearms show. Also allows the Superintendent of State Police to enter into agreements with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives whereby law-enforcement officers with the Department of State Police may be granted federal law-enforcement authority for the purposes of enforcing firearms laws of the United States.
Patron: Norment
Purchase of service handgun. Allows designated law-enforcement officers to purchase their service handgun for $1 if they are receiving disability payments for a service-incurred disability with no expectation of returning to their former employment.
Patron: Norment
Criminal history record checks; volunteers. Adds the Rita Welsh Adult Literacy Program to the agencies that may receive criminal history background checks for their volunteers without charge.
Patron: Norment
Capital murder; auxiliary police officers. Adds auxiliary police officers and auxiliary deputy sheriffs to the definition of law-enforcement officer in the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for the murder of such an officer.
Patron: Whipple
Marriage license tax; allocation to services for children and youth exposed to sexual or domestic violence. Increases the marriage license tax to $35 and allocates the funds to the Department of Social Services for services for children and youth exposed to sexual or domestic violence.
Patron: Howell
Crime victims; immigration status. Provides that no law-enforcement officer or other agent of state or local government shall, when investigating a crime, inquire into the immigration status of any person who reports that he is the victim of the crime or is the parent or guardian of a minor victim, or is a cooperating witness in the criminal investigation or is the parent or guardian of a minor witness. The bill does not prohibit a law-enforcement officer from inquiring into the immigration status of a victim or witness who has been arrested or charged with a criminal violation, or when such inquiry is required by federal law or is essential to the investigation or prosecution of the crime to which the person is a witness or of which the person is a victim.
Patron: Puckett
Drug Treatment Court Act. Authorizes a drug treatment court for the County of Tazewell.
Patron: Ruff
Additional local fee; criminal cases. Allows the circuit court clerk to assess a local fee of up to 10 percent of the total fees charged in criminal cases to be retained by the clerk for use in the operation of the clerk's office.
Patron: Hanger
Comprehensive Services Program; judicial assignment of children. Provides that in cases of judicial assignment of children to the Comprehensive Services Program the court shall consider (i) the recommendations of the family assessment and planning team and the community policy and management team and (ii) if the cost of any services ordered may exceed the average cost for that category of services, as reported on the publicly accessible website of the Office of Comprehensive Services, the recommendations of the local governing body that will be responsible for the local match portion of the cost of the services. This bill also provides that services ordered shall be limited to services approved by the community policy and management team of the locality that will be responsible for the cost of services rendered pursuant to the order.
Patron: Quayle
Line of Duty Act; short-term disability benefits for state police officers. Provides that a state police officer who incurs a work-related injury in the line of duty shall receive supplemental short-term disability coverage providing income replacement for 100 percent of the officer's creditable compensation for up to one calendar year. At the end of the one-year period, the officer would be eligible for supplemental long-term disability benefits, which provide income replacement at 60 percent of the officer's creditable compensation. Currently, the maximum period that an eligible employee generally may receive short-term disability benefits, before getting long-term disability benefits at the 60 percent rate, is 125 work days.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Concealed handgun permits; handgun competence demonstration. Provides that the completion of a firearms training or safety course conducted by a state-certified or National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor may be done electronically or on-line.
Patron: Hurt
Line of Duty Act; investigation of claims; police departments and sheriffs offices. Provides that when a police department or sheriff's office is the last employer of the deceased or disabled person, then the department or office may conduct the investigation of the circumstances surrounding the deceased or disabled person and report the findings to the Comptroller. Currently all investigations of the circumstances must be conducted by the Virginia Department of State Police.