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2009 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice

Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: February 16, 2009
Time and Place: 9:00 a.m., Senate Room A
REVISED 2-13-09 (HB 2126,2559,2560 ADDED; HB 2259,2260 DELETED)

H.B. 1655

Patron: Carrico

Control of firearms; award of court costs and fees.  Requires a court to award reasonable attorney fees, expenses, and court costs to any entity that prevails in an action challenging an ordinance, resolution, motion, or an administrative action taken in bad faith, as being in conflict with a locality's authority to control firearms pursuant to § 15.2-915. 

H.B. 1657

Patron: Marshall, R.G.

Appointment of guardian or conservator. Clarifies that in a proceeding to appoint a guardian or conservator for a person, a court may, in its discretion, appoint the spouse of the person.

H.B. 1668

Patron: Kilgore

Garnishment.  Provides that a parent who supports a dependent child or children residing with him may hold exempt from garnishment an additional amount for the support of the child or children as follows: $34 per week for one child; $52 per week for two children; and $66 per week for three or more children. This additional exemption amount shall not be available to a parent whose household gross income, including any support payments received for the children, exceeds $1,750 per month. In order to claim this exemption, the parent must file an affidavit concerning his household income and the number of dependent children in his home and submit two items of proof showing that the debtor is entitled to the exemption.

H.B. 1693

Patron: Albo

Mandatory minimum punishment for DUI; elevated blood alcohol.  Adds an additional qualifier in DUI punishment provisions that allows use of blood alcohol testing on whole blood to be admitted into evidence in a DUI prosecution, thus allowing mandatory punishments to be imposed when the blood alcohol concentration is elevated but the test may have been performed in another, e.g., hospital, setting.

H.B. 1695

Patron: Albo


Driving without an operator's license.  Provides that any person who drives without an operator's license may be placed under arrest, fingerprinted and the arrest reported to the Central Criminal Records Exchange if the general district court for the jurisdiction has approved arrest for the offense of driving without an operator's license.

H.B. 1806

Patron: Loupassi

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).

H.B. 1831

Patron: Fralin

Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority.  Delays the reversion of title to real property from the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority to the Commonwealth, in the event that the Authority ceases to operate a project, until July 1, 2010. 

H.B. 1842

Patron: Griffith

Authority of a magistrate or judge to issue an emergency protective order.  Expands the authority of a magistrate or judge to issue any stalking protective order to include issuance when a warrant is issued for sexual battery or aggravated sexual battery. Currently, issuance of such an order predicated on a criminal act is limited to criminal offenses resulting in serious bodily injury or stalking.

H.B. 1850

Patron: Lingamfelter

Medical examiner reports; admissibility.  Provides that any statement of fact or opinion in a medical examiner's report concerning the physical or medical cause of death is admissible in a preliminary hearing as evidence of the cause of death as long as it does not allege any conduct by the accused.

H.B. 1857

Patron: Shannon

Protective orders; issuance to incarcerated persons. Provides that a court may issue a preliminary protective order upon a showing by the petitioner that (i) the allegedly abusing person is incarcerated and is to be released from incarceration within 30 days following the petition or has been released from incarceration within 30 days prior to the petition, (ii) the crime for which the allegedly abusing person was convicted and incarcerated involved family abuse against the petitioner, and (iii) the allegedly abusing person has made or attempted to make some unwanted, threatening or offensive contact with the petitioner while he was incarcerated, exhibiting a renewed threat to the petitioner of family abuse. If a preliminary protective order is issued the court may issue a permanent (two-year) protective order.

H.B. 1866

Patron: Janis

Court-established community service programs.  Provides that a court has the discretion to allow persons upon whom fines and costs have been imposed the option to discharge all or part of the fines or costs through the performance of community service.

H.B. 1888

Patron: Nixon

Officer endorsement of writ of fieri facias.  Eliminates the provision authorizing a judgment creditor to recover a sum not exceeding 15 percent upon the amount of the execution against an officer who fails to endorse a writ of fieri facias at the time he receives the writ and when he levies it upon the personal property of the debtor.

H.B. 1898

Patron: Watts

Sex offender registry.  Adds a number of registration requirements in order to comply with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. Persons required to register must submit to state or local police information relating to immigration status, telephone numbers, professional and occupational licensing, volunteer positions, physical job site locations, change in employment status, temporary lodging and motor vehicles, watercraft and aircraft regularly operated by the person. Under current law nonresident offenders must register in Virginia if they are here for employment exceeding 14 days and if they are here for any other purpose for 30 days or more, this bill reduces both time frames to seven days.

H.B. 1899

Patron: Watts

Appointment of jury commissioners. Provides that the judge of a circuit court with the urban form of government may impanel jury commissioners at any time prior to the first day of November each year. Currently, jury commissioners must be appointed prior to the first day of July each year.

H.B. 1908

Patron: Armstrong

Assault and battery of family or household member; deferred disposition. Rewrites the existing statute for clarity and allows the court to order the person to obtain services from local community-based probation if the services are available or to get alternative treatment. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.

H.B. 1944

Patron: Peace

Succession; child born out of wedlock. Provides that the determination of a parent-child relationship for succession purposes under Title 64.1 applies to intestate succession of real property and not just personal property. This bill is in response to the Supreme Court decision in Jenkins v. Johnson, 276 Va. 30, 641 S.E.2d 484 (2008).

H.B. 1946

Patron: Peace

Statewide case and financial management systems; interface with circuit courts.  Gives the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of a statewide case management system and financial management system, for related technology improvements, and requires that he permit an interface to any circuit court that uses automation or technology improvements provided by a private vendor or the locality. The costs of designing, implementing, and maintaining any such interface shall be the responsibility of the circuit court clerk. Any expenses incurred by the office of the Executive Secretary, not to exceed $104,280, related to this system shall be reimbursed through the Technology Trust Fund.

H.B. 1962

Patron: Mathieson

Sex Offender Registry. States that any provision in a conviction order, sentencing order, or other court order or plea agreement stating that a person is not required to register with the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry is invalid and void ab initio if such provision is in conflict with the provisions of the Registry Act. The bill also requires the state police to report the receipt of any such order or agreement to the chairmen of the House Committee for Courts of Justice, the House Committee on Militia, Police, and Public Safety, and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice, as well as to the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

H.B. 1968

Patron: Massie

Failure to comply with sentencing order; penalty.  Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for willfully and knowingly violating a sentencing order by failing to surrender to jail at the time ordered by the court.

H.B. 2035

Patron: Iaquinto

Life expectancy table.  Changes table's figures that represent continued life expectancy.

H.B. 2042

Patron: Gear

Purchase of handguns of certain officers.  Allows a retiring law-enforcement officer of the State Lottery Department to purchase his handgun for $1.

H.B. 2057

Patron: Hamilton

Admissibility of expressions of sympathy.  Expands the list of expressions of sympathy that are not admissible in medical malpractice actions and wrongful death actions brought against a health care provider to include commiseration, condolence, or compassion, together with apologies.

H.B. 2126

Patron: Byron

Business entities; employing illegal aliens.  Relocates provisions that require the cancellation of limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and business trusts, whether domestic or foreign, upon conviction for violating federal law for actions of its members or managers constituting a pattern or practice of employing unauthorized aliens in the Commonwealth, to sections of the Limited Liability Company Act, Limited Partnership Act, and Business Trust Act that were enacted in 2008 to provide for the involuntary cancellation of the existence of a limited liability company, limited partnership, and business trust, and the registration of their foreign counterparts. The measure has an emergency clause and will become effective on April 1, 2009, which is the effective date of the business entity provisions enacted in 2008.

EMERGENCY

H.B. 2164

Patron: Lohr

Mechanics' liens; acquisition and disposal of abandoned vehicles.  Provides new standards and procedures for acquisition and disposal of abandoned vehicles.

H.B. 2213

Patron: Jones

Easement in Baylor Grounds.  Removes the Marine Resources authority to grant a 100 foot wide easement to Virginia Natural Gas across a portion of Baylor Survey Ground No. 3, for a natural gas pipeline.

H.B. 2226

Patron: Marsden

Virginia Prisoner Litigation Reform Act. Requires the court to serve the Office of the Attorney General with a copy of the motion for judgment and all necessary supporting papers only in actions in which the defendant is the Commonwealth or one of its officers, employees, or agents.

H.B. 2237

Patron: Valentine

Contracts; improper use of payment device numbers.  Provides a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation for failure to comply with an injunction, mandamus or other appropriate remedy concerning the use of out-of-date credit card payment devices which reveal an entire social security number.

H.B. 2291

Patron: Cline

Release of deed of trust; assignment of penalty.  Prohibits settlement agents and real estate attorneys from facilitating an assignment, to any third party designated by them, of their client's right to the $500 penalty levied on lenders that fail to timely deliver a certificate of satisfaction releasing a deed of trust.

H.B. 2311

Patron: Melvin

Construction, renovation, or maintenance of a courthouse; fees.  Allows localities to assess an additional three dollar fee as part of the costs in each civil, criminal, or traffic case to be used solely for the construction, renovation, or maintenance of a courthouse. Such fee shall not be assessed in any civil action if the amount in controversy is $500 or less. The additional fee may only be assessed by localities that, on or after January 1, 2009, operated a courthouse not in compliance with the current safety and security guidelines contained in the Virginia Courthouse Facility Guidelines and the courthouse cannot be feasibly renovated to correct the non-compliance.

H.B. 2313

Patron: Kilgore

Illegal software, ticket sales; penalty. Provides that resale of event tickets via the Internet is not subject to prohibition by local ordinance. The bill also clarifies the definition of "without authority" in the Computer Crimes Act and the definition of "improper means" in the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and makes a violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act a prohibited practice under the Consumer Protection Act.

H.B. 2358

Patron: Gilbert

Criminal law; redefinition of the triggerman rule.  Redefines the "triggerman rule," which currently provides that only the actual perpetrator of a capital murder is eligible for the death penalty and that accessories and principals in the second degree can be punished only as if guilty of first degree murder. This bill allows principals in the second degree and accessories before the fact to be charged as principals in the first degree in the cases of murder for hire, murder involving a continuing criminal enterprise, and terrorism. This bill allows, in all other cases of capital murder, a principal in the second degree to be tried as a principal in the first degree if he had the same intent to kill as the principal in the first degree. The bill allows an accessory before the fact to be tried as a principal in the first degree if he ordered or directed the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing.

H.B. 2391

Patron: Bell

Search warrant for electronic communications; foreign service.  Provides for the issuance of a search warrant by a circuit court for information, including contents of electronic communications, held by a foreign corporation that provides electronic communication service or remote computing service in Virginia. Currently, there is no specific provision for foreign service of such a warrant and a search warrant may not access contents of electronic communications.

H.B. 2397

Patron: Bell

Venue for possession of child pornography.  Adds a venue provision to the statute that punishes possession, transmission, and reproduction of child pornography to include the jurisdiction where the unlawful act occurs or where any sexually explicit visual material associated with a violation of the section is produced, reproduced, found, stored, received, or possessed.  

H.B. 2402

Patron: Bell

Criminal law; identity theft; penalty; restitution; victim assistance. Clarifies that to obtain money, credit, or loans by using without authorization or permission a person's identifying information is prohibited under the identity theft statutes.

H.B. 2403

Patron: Bell

Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund; electronic filing of claims.  Permits claims for an award under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund to be filed electronically. Currently, such claims must be filed in person or by mail.

H.B. 2513

Patron: Marsden

Mob violence reportable by intake officers to schools. Adds "act of violence by a mob pursuant to § 18.2-42.1" to the listing of offenses that are reported by a juvenile intake officer to a school division superintendent when committed by a student. The bill also removes two redundancies created when similar House and Senate bills passed and were merged in 2004.

H.B. 2559

Patron: Johnson

Homestead exemption.  Increases the homestead exemption from $5,000 to $10,000 for householders who are 65 years of age or older.

H.B. 2560

Patron: Johnson

Homestead exemption; veterans.  Increases the additional homestead exemption for veterans from $2,000 to $10,000.

H.B. 2571

Patron: BaCote

Restricted license eligibility while license is suspended. Allows a court to issue a restricted license to a person whose license is suspended under certain circumstances.

H.B. 2626

Patron: Byron

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.

H.B. 2638

Patron: Pogge

Capital murder; auxiliary police officers and fire marshals. Adds auxiliary police officers and auxiliary deputy sheriffs, as well as fire marshals and assistant fire marshals with police powers, 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 or marshal. This bill incorporates HB 2585.