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2009 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice
Subcommittee Criminal

Reynolds (Chairman), Stolle, Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt, Deeds

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: February 12, 2009
Time and Place: 7:30 AM, Senate Room A

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. 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 upon conviction for certain crimes.  Provides that a court shall issue an emergency 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.

H.B. 1868

Patron: Janis

Criminal law; penalties for underage drunk driving.  Eliminates the sunset date of July 1, 2010, on the 2008 Act of Assembly that provides that "zero tolerance" (0.02 percent BAC) underage drinking and driving is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor, and provides for forfeiture of such person's license to operate a motor vehicle for a period of one year from the date of conviction and either a mandatory minimum fine of $500 or 50 hours of community service. Prior to this chapter's enactment, the punishment was loss of license for six months and a fine of no more than $500. The bill also clarifies that punishment for underage drinking includes, but is not limited to, the license forfeiture and either a mandatory minimum fine of $500 or 50 hours of community service.

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. 1928

Patron: Lewis

Sex offender registration requirements.       Provides that any person who is required to register on the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry be required to reregister and submit to be photographed within three days of any significant change in his appearance.

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. 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.