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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2009 SESSION
Reynolds (Chairman), Saslaw, Stolle, Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: January 20, 2009
Time and Place: 7:30 AM, Senate Room A
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: 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: Stuart
Children of certain persons at certain criminal proceedings. Provides that the court shall obtain from (i) persons at bail hearings, (ii) accused persons during arraignment, and (iii) defendants during the placement of probation and shall submit to the Department of Social Services the names, social security numbers, and dates of birth of the persons' and defendants' children, and the names of person having legal custody of such persons' and such defendants' children.
Patron: Reynolds
Larceny of money. Allows larceny of bank notes, checks, or other writing or paper of value to be charged as larceny under the grand larceny and petit larceny statutes.
Patron: Watkins
Indigent defendants; right to ex parte hearing for appointment of experts in capital cases. Provides that an indigent defendant who has been charged with a capital offense may move in circuit court for the appointment of experts to assist in the preparation of his defense. The presiding judge shall designate another judge in the judicial circuit who shall hold an ex parte hearing on such a motion and may order the appointment of an expert. Any motion for an ex parte hearing shall be in writing and filed under seal and any ex parte hearing conducted shall be on the record and kept under seal as part of the record of the case. The expert's work product is protected by attorney-client privilege; however, the defendant shall comply with the discovery rules set forth in the Rules of the Supreme Court.
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: Obenshain
Redefinition of the triggerman rule; penalty. 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.
Patron: Quayle
Illegal gambling. Revises one portion of the definition of illegal gambling by deleting "a matter of chance" and inserting "contains any element of chance."
Patron: Martin
Capital murder; fire marshals. Adds fire marshals and assistant fire marshals with law-enforcement powers to the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for the murder of such a fire marshal.
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: Watkins
Criminal records check; purchase of firearms. Increases the fee paid to firearms dealers for criminal history record information checks from $2 to $5 for Virginians and from $5 to $8 for persons living out-of-state. The bill also provides that data and forms submitted to and maintained by the Department of State Police for such criminal history checks and purchases may not be inspected by the public.
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: 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: 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: Herring
Juvenile dispositions. Allows juveniles who have previously been adjudicated delinquent of a violent juvenile felony to be confined in a detention home or other secure juvenile facility. The bill also requires the court to consider the assessment completed by the secure facility regarding the appropriateness of the placement when ordering a period of confinement that exceeds 30 days.
Patron: Herring
Juvenile dispositions. Allows the court to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor after deferring disposition when a juvenile was placed on probation and fulfills the terms and conditions of his probation.
Patron: Hurt
Assault and battery of family or household member; deferred disposition. Rewrites the existing statute for clarity and requires rather than allows the court to order the person to obtain services from local community-based probation if the services are available. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.
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: 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: Reynolds
Criminal procedure; compensation of court-appointed counsel. Provides compensation to counsel representing an indigent prisoner under sentence of death in a state habeas corpus proceeding, on the same basis as provided to counsel representing a defendant charged with a Class 1 felony.
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.