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2009 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services

Chairman: Linda T. Puller

Clerk: Donna Weaver
Staff: Patrick Cushing
Date of Meeting: February 13, 2009
Time and Place: 8:30 a.m. Senate Room B

H.B. 1904 Virginia Child Protection Accountability System; established.

Patron: Armstrong

Virginia Child Protection Accountability System.  Establishes the Virginia Child Protection Accountability System to collect and make available to the public information on the response to reported cases of child abuse in the Commonwealth. This bill requires the Department of Social Services to submit certain information for inclusion in the System.

H.B. 1914 Foster care; deletes certain Code references, guidelines for continuation thereof.

Patron: BaCote

Foster care.  Deletes Code references to "continued foster care." Additionally, a petition for a foster care review hearing described under § 16.1-282 shall set forth the disposition sought and the grounds therefor; however, if a continuation of foster care is recommended, a foster care plan for such period of continued foster care shall also be included and shall address (i) the role the current foster parents or other care providers will play in the future planning for the child and (ii) in the case of a child who has attained age 16 and for whom the plan is independent living, the services needed to assist the child to transition from foster care to independent living. Under this bill, such petition shall set forth the disposition sought and the grounds therefor; however, in the case of a child who has attained age 16 and for whom the plan is independent living, the foster care plan shall address the services needed to assist the child to transition from foster care to independent living.

H.B. 1919 Prisoner keep; increases amount locality may charge inmate to defray costs associated therewith.

Patron: Crockett-Stark

Corrections; payment of costs associated with prisoner keep.  Increases from $1 to $5 the amount a locality may charge an inmate to defray the costs associated with the inmate's keep. This bill incorporates HB 2493.

H.B. 2051 Alcoholic beverage control; ABC Board to establish schedule of offenses which penalty may be waived.

Patron: Gear

Alcoholic beverage control; suspension and revocation; penalty waivers.  Requires the ABC Board, by regulation, to establish a schedule of offenses for which any penalty may be waived upon a showing that the licensee has had no prior violations within five years immediately preceding the date of the violation.  The bill provides that no waiver shall be granted, however, for a license’s willful and knowing violation of this title or Board regulations.

H.B. 2159 Adoption of a child; amends statutes governing.

Patron: Toscano

Adoption of a child.  Amends statutes governing adoption of a child to provide that (i) where any provision of the statutes governing adoption apply to only one adoptive parent, the court may waive the application of the procedural provision for the spouse of the adoptive parent to whom the provision applies; (ii) payment of child support shall in the absence of any other contact with the child not constitute contact for the purpose of determining whether a parent has abandoned a child; (iii) a court may grant a petition for adoption in the absence of consent by a parent upon filing of a death certificate for that parent; (iv) parental consent to an entrustment agreement shall be revocable prior to entry of a final order of adoption upon proof of fraud or duress, or upon the consent of the birth parents and adoptive parents or child-placing agency; (v) for purposes of consenting to an adoption, an affidavit signed by the birth mother stating that the identity of the birth father is unknown and not reasonably ascertainable shall be sufficient to establish that the identity of the father is not known; (vi) where the identity of the birth father is reasonably ascertainable but the whereabouts of the birth father are not reasonably ascertainable, verification of compliance with the requirements of the Putative Father Registry shall be provided to the court; (vii) where a child has been placed under the physical custody and care of the prospective adoptive parents and the birth parent or parents fail to appear at the hearing to execute consent, the court may grant the petition without the consent of the parents; and (viii) where a putative father's identity and whereabouts are reasonably ascertainable, notice of the existence of an adoption plan and the availability of registration with the Putative Father Registry shall be mailed to the putative birth father by certified mail either before or after the birth of the child.

H.B. 2160 Post-adoption contact and communication; establishes procedures between birth parents, etc.

Patron: Toscano

Post-adoption contact and communication.  Authorizes and establishes procedures governing post-adoption contact and communication agreements between the birth parent or parents of a child and the pre-adoptive parent or parents.

H.B. 2293 Alcoholic Beverage Control Board; creates 2-year pilot project for certain mixed beverage licensees.

Patron: Albo

Alcoholic Beverage Control; pilot project. Creates a two-year pilot project for certain mixed beverage licensees of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The bill allows a participating mixed beverage restaurant licensee to use alternative calculation for the food-to-beverage ratio based on volume by proof gallon. The bill sets out the parameters of the pilot project and requires the ABC Board to report its findings and any recommendations based on the results of the project to the chairs of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services on or before July 1, 2011. The bill defines proof gallon.

H.B. 2328 Adult abuse, suspected; requires local departments to take photographs, etc., thereof.

Patron: Athey

Suspected adult abuse; photographing of injuries.  Requires local departments to take or cause to be taken photographs, video recordings, or appropriate medical imaging of a suspected victim of adult neglect, abuse, or exploitation. This bill also provides that, if the adult is determined to be incapable of making an informed decision and of giving informed consent and either has no legal representative, or the legal representative is the suspected perpetrator of the neglect, abuse, or exploitation, consent may be given by an agent appointed under an advanced medical directive or medical power of attorney or other person authorized to make decisions on behalf of an adult deemed incapable of making an informed decision. 

H.B. 2523 Alcoholic beverage control; grounds for suspension or revocation of a license.

Patron: Wright

Alcoholic beverage control; grounds for suspension or revocation of a license.  Adds a new ground for which the ABC Board may suspend or revoke a license. Under the bill, a license may be suspended if the licensee has allowed the licensed premises to become a place where persons commit criminal violation of the law on or immediately adjacent to the premises that are so frequent and serious so to be deemed a continuing threat to the public safety.

H.B. 2597 Alcoholic beverage control; ABC Board to adopt regulation that require off-premise retail licensees.

Patron: Oder

Alcoholic beverage control; regulations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.  Mandates the ABC Board to adopt regulations that require off-premises retail licensees to place any premixed alcoholic energy drinks containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume in the same location where wine and beer are available for sale within the licensed premises.

H.B. 2627 Alcoholic beverage control; unlawful possession.

Patron: Griffith

Alcoholic beverage control; unlawful possession; affirmative defense.  Provides that no person to whom alcoholic beverages may not lawfully be sold is in violation if such consumption, purchase, or possession was allowed under current exceptions in ABC law (i.e., drank it at home with his parents or spouse, etc.).  The bill contains technical amendments.