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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
Edwards (Chairman), Quayle, Lucas, Puller, Cuccinelli, Obenshain, Saslaw
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: February 19, 2009
Time and Place: 4:00 PM, Senate Room A
Patron: Ware, O.
Checks; stop-payment; civil actions. Provides that a party may recover against the drawer of a check, draft, or order the face amount of the check and other costs and fees if payment was refused because the drawer placed a stop-payment order on the check in bad faith. Currently, the law only allows for recovery if payment was refused because of lack of funds or credit.
Patron: Griffith
Civil commitment of sexually violent predators; penalties. Makes a number of changes, including requiring that the court records for certain sexual misdemeanors be retained for 50 years rather than 10 years; allowing access to juvenile court and records of the Department of Juvenile Justice; addressing challenges to filing defects, including defendants under the Commitment Review Committee; removing the requirement that victims of certain crimes must have suffered physical bodily injury in order for certain prisoners to be referred to Commitment Review Committee; allowing access to sealed records; extending from 60 to 90 days the time for a probable cause hearing and allowing the respondent to waive his right to such hearing; setting a standard for the court to find probable cause; allowing hearings to be conducted using two-way electronic video and audio communications systems and telephonic communication for witnesses; and extending from 90 to 120 the number of days after the probable cause hearing for conduct of the trial.
Patron: Janis
Boiler inspections; immunity. Provides that agents and special inspectors who are authorized by the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to conduct boiler inspections, but who are not employed or paid by the Commonwealth, are exempt from civil liability from furnishing or failing to furnish inspections. This immunity does not apply in instances of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Patron: Knight
Property conveyance. Authorizes the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries to convey approximately seven acres within the Cavalier Wildlife Management Area to Beaverdam Properties.
Patron: McClellan
Emergency response; liability. Provides civil immunity for private and charitable organizations providing resources and assistance, without compensation, pursuant to a governor-declared emergency or during a formal emergency management training exercise, and at the request of the State Department of Emergency Management or a local emergency management employee. The immunity would not apply in instances of gross negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct.
Patron: Gear
Exemption from jury service; students. Provides that any person who is enrolled in and attends, as a full-time student, an accredited public or private institution of higher education shall be exempt from jury service upon his request. This exemption only applies to jury service during any term of court while classes are in session at the institution of higher education.
Patron: Marsden
Exemption from creditor process for retirement benefits. Prohibits a person acting as a trustee or custodian with respect to an individual retirement account or other exempt retirement plan from exercising setoff against the retirement plan except to the extent permitted under federal law.
Patron: Griffith
Fiduciaries; naming the subject of the fiduciary relationship as the party to an action; misnomer. Provides that if the subject of the fiduciary relationship is named in a pleading as the party in an action required to be prosecuted or defended in the name of the fiduciary, such naming shall be considered to be a misnomer and the pleading may be amended to reflect the name of the correct party.
Patron: Bulova
School records; self-authentication. Expands the types of school records that may be admissible in cases involving custody of the student or termination of parental rights to all school records provided that they are authenticated as true and accurate copies by the custodian of the records or by the person to whom the custodian reports, if they are different. Currently, only school records relating to attendance, transcripts, or grades are admissible based on such authentication.
Patron: Janis
Closely held corporations; pro se representation. Allows a closely held corporation to be represented by an officer pro se before the general district courts (i) if the amount in controversy is $2,500 or less, and (ii) the officer has the unanimous consent of all the shareholders to do so. A closely held corporation is defined as a corporation the stock of which is held by no more than five persons and is not publicly offered or planned to be publicly offered.
Patron: Janis
Uniform Principal and Income Act (UPIA). Revises the Act to address a 2006 IRS ruling regarding marital deductions to ensure that an IRA or other retirement arrangement that is payable to a marital deduction trust qualifies for the federal estate tax marital deduction. The trustee will be required to demand certain distributions if the surviving spouse so requests because the IRS requires that the surviving spouse be separately entitled to demand the fund’s income. The bill also clarifies how a trust that is required to pay income to a beneficiary keeps enough money to pay its taxes and distribute the balance of the income to the mandatory income beneficiary. The bill also allows for the creation of grantor-created unitrusts to be administered in the manner of a total return unitrust. Current law allows for the conversion of income trusts into total return unitrusts but does not allow unitrusts to be otherwise created. The bill also provides that a qualified beneficiary of a trust, other than the attorney general of the Commonwealth, may petition the circuit court to convert an income trust to a total return unitrust, convert a total return unitrust to an income trust, or change the percentage used to calculate the unitrust amount or the method used to determine the fair market value of the trust assets. Currently, only the trustee may file such a petition.
Patron: Hargrove
Duty of care. Expands to owners of privately owned airports, heliports, and landing areas that would be used to operate aircraft or ultralight vehicles an exemption from the duty of care provision if the landowner does not charge a fee to use his property. Under the bill owners of such airports, flying fields, or heliports would not assume responsibility for or incur liability for certain negligent acts.
Patron: Howell, A.T.
Novelty lighters. Defines "novelty lighters" and provides that any person who knowingly sells a novelty lighter to a person he knows or has reason to know is a juvenile, is subject to a fine of no more than $50. This bill incorporates HB 2054.
Patron: Griffith
Real property tax; sale of tax-delinquent property. Provides that a party whose interest in tax-delinquent property is secured by a properly recorded deed of trust is not required to file a notice in order to have his claim paid upon the judicial sale of such property.