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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.
2009 SESSION
Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: February 4, 2009
Time and Place: 2:00 PM, Senate Room A
Patron: Cuccinelli
Transportation of person under emergency custody, temporary detention, or involuntary commitment order. Allows a person under an emergency custody order, temporary detention order, or involuntary commitment order to be transported by a family member; friend; representative of the community services board; health care provider; representative of the facility at which the person will be examined, detained, or admitted; or other transportation provider with personnel trained to provide transportation in a safe manner, upon a finding that such transportation is appropriate. This bill provides that, when making a decision regarding the appropriate transportation of a person under an emergency custody order, temporary detention order, or involuntary commitment order, the magistrate, judge, or special justice shall consider information provided by the community services board or its designee; the local law-enforcement agency, if involved; the petitioner; the person's treating physician; and others with knowledge of the person to be transported.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Involuntary commitment hearings; law students. Provides that it is not the unauthorized practice of law for a third-year law student enrolled at any law school in the Commonwealth to represent a petitioner in a commitment hearing for involuntary admission without the presence of a practicing attorney. The student must have completed coursework in evidence and trial advocacy and received training on involuntary commitment law. The student must inform the petitioner that he is not a licensed attorney, that he may not be compensated for his services, and that he can be held liable only for intentional malfeasance.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Mandatory outpatient treatment following inpatient treatment. Allows a court to enter an order for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission, which orders a person who has been involuntarily admitted to mandatory outpatient treatment. The criteria for such an order differ from the criteria used for a mandatory outpatient treatment order entered where the person was not first involuntarily admitted. The criteria for an order for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission are that the person (i) has mental illness; (ii) no longer needs inpatient hospitalization but requires mandatory outpatient treatment to prevent rapid deterioration of his condition that would likely result in his meeting the criteria for inpatient treatment; (iii) is not likely to obtain outpatient treatment unless the court enters the order; and (iv) is likely to comply with the order. Additionally, services must actually be available in the community and providers of services must have actually agreed to deliver the services. The bill also sets forth how orders for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission will be enforced, reviewed, continued, and rescinded.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Campaign finance; prohibited contributions from foreign nationals. Makes it unlawful for a foreign national to make contributions or expenditures in connection with a state or local election and for any person, candidate, campaign committee, or political committee to accept a contribution from a foreign national. Violators are subject to civil penalties. Foreign national has the same meaning prescribed in 2 U.S.C. § 441e, the federal law prohibiting such contributions.
Patron: Edwards
Mental health courts; pilot program. Directs the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to establish by January 1, 2010, no less than two and no more than five mental health courts in Virginia for nonviolent offenders with serious mental illnesses.
Patron: Ticer
Use of mobile telephone and other wireless electronic devices while driving. Provides that, with certain exceptions, no person may use a mobile telephone or other wireless electronic telecommunications device while operating a moving motor vehicle on any public highway in the Commonwealth unless such mobile telephone or other wireless electronic telecommunications device is equipped with a hands-free accessory.
Patron: Martin
Carrying concealed weapons; retired law-enforcement officers. Clarifies that retired law-enforcement officers from anywhere in the United States, District of Columbia, or territories of the United States are not subject to Virginia's concealed handgun laws, if such officer meets the requirements of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004. The federal law allows retired officers with more than 15 years aggregate experience, who are certified annually on handgun proficiency, and meet other requirements, to carry a concealed weapon anywhere in the United States.
Patron: McDougle
Confidentiality of law-enforcement records; disclosures to school principal. Provides that the chief of police or sheriff of a jurisdiction or his designee may disclose, for the protection of the juvenile, his fellow students, and school personnel, to the school principal that a juvenile is currently the subject of a protective order and any relevant information relating thereto.
Patron: Martin
Prayer at public events. Provides that whenever a individual is requested to provide a prayer, invocation, or benediction at a public event that is sanctioned by a governmental agency, such governmental agency shall have no authority to regulate how that individual refers to God in prayer or prohibit the religious content of the individual's prayer, invocation, or benediction, provided such prayer, invocation, or benediction is not used to advance a particular religion or to disparage another faith or belief.
Patron: Howell
Special justices; expenses. Provides that special justices, retired judges, or district court substitute judges presiding over involuntary commitment hearings shall receive a fee for each hearing that includes mileage, parking, tolls, and postage.
Patron: Howell
Emergency custody; authority of law-enforcement officer. Authorizes a law-enforcement officer who is transporting a person who has voluntarily consented to being transported to a facility for assessment or evaluation and who subsequently revokes consent to be transported to take such person into emergency custody when the law-enforcement officer determines that consent has been revoked and the person meets the criteria for emergency custody, even if the law-enforcement officer is beyond the territorial limits of the jurisdiction in which he serves. This bill also clarifies that a law-enforcement officer who takes a person into emergency custody based upon his own observations or reliable reports of others may transport such person beyond the territorial boundaries of the jurisdiction in which he serves in order to obtain the required assessment.
Patron: Howell
Involuntary commitment; place of hearing. Provides that, upon the request of the respondent or his attorney, a district court judge or special justice may restrict attendance at an involuntary commitment hearing to persons whose participation is required for proper conduct of the hearing and those whose presence is requested by the respondent upon a finding that (i) such restriction is necessary to protect the respondent's health, safety, or privacy and (ii) the respondent's interest in the restriction outweighs the public's interest in attendance by any person who would be excluded.
Patron: Howell
Special justices; appointment. Clarifies that a special justice serves at the pleasure of the chief justice of the judicial circuit in which he serves, rather than the specific chief justice that makes the original appointment.
Patron: Howell
Voluntary and involuntary commitment; forms. Provides that the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall prepare the petitions, orders, and such other legal documents as may be required in proceedings for emergency custody, temporary detention, and voluntary and involuntary admission to a facility and distribute such forms to the clerks of the general district courts and the juvenile and domestic relations courts. This bill further provides that the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services shall prepare the preadmission screening report, examination, and such other clinical forms as may be required for emergency custody, temporary detention, and voluntary and involuntary admission to a facility and distribute such forms to community services boards, mental health care providers, and directors of state facilities.
Patron: Howell
Mental health law revisions. Amends mental health statutes to address issues resulting from the overhaul of mental health laws during the 2008 Session. This bill clarifies requirements that law-enforcement initiated emergency custody remains subject to the four hour limit and two hour extension provisions; clarifies that the employee or designee of the community services board attending a commitment hearing need not be the person who prepared the prescreening report, and that neither the employee or designee of the community services board attending a commitment hearing nor the independent examiner who attends the commitment hearing shall be excluded pursuant to an order of sequestration of the witnesses; clarifies that the prescreening report shall be admitted into evidence and made part of the record of the case; and extends the CCRE reporting requirement to close of business on the next business day following the hearing resulting in involuntary commitment. This bill has an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Northam
Smoking in cars with minor present; civil penalty. Makes it unlawful for a person to smoke in a motor vehicle, whether in motion or at rest, in which a minor is present, punishable by a fine not to exceed $100.
Patron: Lucas
Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment of Minors Act; outpatient treatment; etc. Provides that a person who meets the criteria for involuntary commitment under the Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment of Minors Act may be ordered to mandatory outpatient treatment if less restrictive alternatives to involuntary inpatient treatment are appropriate and are available and the minor and his parents have the capacity to understand the stipulations of the minor's treatment and to comply with such outpatient treatment and that they have agreed to abide by the treatment plan. The bill also sets forth how such mandatory outpatient treatment will be monitored and how a minor's noncompliance with such treatment will be addressed. The bill also clarifies that the commitment criteria for minors, and not the criteria for adults, apply when the emergency admission of a minor is sought under the procedures for the emergency admission of an adult set forth in Article 4 (§ 37.2-808 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 37.2. The bill also provides that a minor who has been properly detained by a juvenile and domestic relations court may petition for voluntary admission and treatment of mental illness. Currently, such detained minors may not voluntarily seek admission. The bill further requires that if a minor is in a detention home or shelter care facility when admitted to a mental health facility, the director of the detention home or shelter care facility or his designee shall provide, if available, certain information relating to the minor to the mental health facility and to the juvenile and domestic relations district court for the jurisdiction in which the facility is located if such court is different than the court that placed the minor in detention or shelter care. The bill also clarifies under what circumstances the qualified evaluator who examined the minor must attend the minor's hearing and under what circumstances the evaluator's report is admissible.
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: Howell
Juvenile code. Makes various clarifying changes in code sections pertaining to juveniles and juvenile court provisions. The bill specifies that the statutory deferred disposition provisions for underage possession of alcohol apply only to adults, since the law pertaining to juveniles already allows deferred dispositions, allows juvenile probation officers to keep relevant photographs in their files, provides that a guardian ad litem of a child may file a petition alleging that the child is in need of services or supervision, specifies that a petition must be filed (rather than proceeding informally) if the offense for which the juvenile had been previously adjudicated delinquent would be a felony if committed by an adult, removes references to juvenile boot camps because they do not exist and provides that a petition may be filed for assault and battery against a family or household member. The bill also repeals two sections (protective orders in cases of family abuse and exception as to confidentiality) and reinserts the same language in the Code in renumbered sections.
Patron: Puckett
Behavioral Correction Program. Allows an offender who otherwise would be sentenced to a fixed term of incarceration of three years or longer and who the court determines requires treatment for drug or alcohol substance abuse issues to be committed to a special program lasting 18 months or more. Following the offender's release, he is placed on supervised probation.
Patron: Deeds
Department of Employment Dispute Resolution; powers and duties of Director. Removes the power of the Director of the Department of Employment Dispute Resolution to render final decisions on all matters related to procedural compliance with the state employee grievance procedure.
Patron: Obenshain
Juvenile probation and parole reports; transmission to school superintendent. Requires juvenile probation officers to transmit probation and parole reports, including intake, social history and sentencing reports, to school superintendents for crimes for which they must notify the school division if there is a petition filed under existing law. The school superintendent may further disclose the information to principals who may also disclose for safety or educational reasons.
Patron: Newman
Compulsory training standards; courthouse and courtroom security. Allows persons designated to provide courthouse security who have previously been certified and served as law-enforcement officers, other than a person terminated for cause, to meet reduced minimum compulsory training standards.
Patron: Edwards
Appeal from juvenile and domestic relations district court. States that an appeal from the juvenile court is to be taken in accordance with the appeal provisions specified for the district courts. A second enacting clause provides that this amendment is declarative of existing law.
Patron: Edwards
Crisis intervention pilot programs for persons with mental illness. Permits the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish crisis intervention team pilot programs in areas of the state by January 1, 2010. The crisis intervention team pilot programs shall assist law-enforcement officers in responding to crisis situations involving persons with mental illness, substance abuse problems, or both. By November 1, 2009, the Department shall submit to the Joint Commission on Health Care a report outlining the plan for the program. The Department, in consultation with the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, shall establish a training program for all persons involved in the crisis intervention team pilot programs. Each crisis intervention team shall develop a protocol that permits law-enforcement officers to release from custody persons whom they encounter in crisis situations when the crisis intervention team has determined the person is sufficiently stable. The Department shall evaluate and report annually to the Joint Commission on Health Care on the impact and effectiveness of the crisis intervention team pilot programs.
Patron: Hurt
Involuntary mental health commitment. Provides that a court may, in its discretion, appoint counsel for a minor in proceedings seeking judicial approval of the admission by the parents of a minor 14 years of age or older who is incapable of making an informed decision or who objects to the admission and provides that a court may, in its discretion, appoint a guardian ad litem for a minor who is the subject of an involuntary commitment petition. Currently, the court is required to appoint both a guardian ad litem and counsel in both circumstances. The bill also removes authority for monitoring compliance with mandatory outpatient treatment from special justices and places it with district court judges (currently it can be done by either) and allows recordings of hearings to be electronic or digital.
Patron: McEachin
Collateral consequences of criminal convictions. Requires the Attorney General to identify, collect, and make available on the Internet a list of constitutional, statutory and regulatory collateral consequences of a criminal conviction. Collateral consequences are those consequences that arise as a result of a criminal conviction (such as employment barriers) but are not imprisonment, parole, probation, fines, forfeiture, restitution, etc.
Patron: Lucas
Alcoholic beverages; underage consumption. Provides that anyone who knowingly permits underage consumption of alcoholic beverages in his dwelling or on his private real property, or who knows that such behavior is occurring but fails to make reasonable efforts to halt it, is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.
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: Stolle
Medical malpractice; Patients' Compensation Fund. Provides that on and after July 1, 2009, a health care provider's personal liability is limited to $2 million for any injury to, or death of, a patient, and any amount due from a judgment or verdict in excess of $2 million shall be paid from the Patient's Compensation Fund. The bill provides that the Fund is financed through fees levied upon health care providers and collected by the health regulatory boards. The assets of the fund shall be used solely to pay that portion of the amount due from a malpractice judgment, settlement, or verdict in excess of $2 million and to administer the Patients' Compensation Program, which is governed by a board of directors whose appointments are prescribed in the bill and who manage and operate the Fund.
Patron: Stolle
Children in need of supervision or services. Creates an article entitled "Children in Need of Supervision or Services" into which certain existing statutory provisions relating to intake, violations of court orders, and the criteria for detention or shelter care are either moved or duplicated.
Patron: Deeds
Magistrates; issuance of arrest warrants. Provides that a magistrate may not issue a felony arrest warrant based on a citizen complaint unless authorized by the attorney for the Commonwealth or a law-enforcement agency. The bill also requires that a complaint for an arrest warrant be in writing if the complainant is not a law-enforcement officer.
Patron: Howell
Forensic Science Board. Adds the chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee or their designees to the Board.
Patrons: Edwards, Obenshain
Protective orders. Removes a provision added in 2008 allowing an addendum to the protective order to contain identifying information, so that the identifying information will return to the front page of the order. The bill also specifies identifying information to be added and transmitted to the Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN) regarding the protected person and provides that orders will expire at 11:59 p.m. on the date specified.
Patron: McEachin
Mental health court; Richmond. Requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to establish a mental health court in the Thirteenth Circuit, Richmond City.
Patrons: Stolle, Howell
Home/electronic incarceration; risk assessment. Provides that the risk assessment instrument developed by the Sentencing Commission shall be used to recommend sentencing alternatives for nonviolent offenders, with consideration being given to home/electronic incarceration for low-risk offenders meeting certain criteria.
Patron: Stolle
Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act. Provides that an officer shall be given reasonable notice before being questioned in an investigation. The bill also provides that if any procedural guarantees are intentionally denied an officer during the investigative process the information garnered may not be used against him.
Patron: Marsh
Confirming the appointment of the Chairman of the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. Confirms appointment by the Chief Justice of the Honorable F. Bruce Bach to a four-year term as Chairman of the Commission.