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2010 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice

Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Date of Meeting: January 20, 2010
Time and Place: 2:00 PM, Senate Room A

S.B. 89

Patron: Stuart

Petition to restore right to possess, etc., firearm; notice to attorney for the Commonwealth.  Provides that if a person files a petition to restore his right to possess or carry a firearm, a copy of the petition shall be served on the attorney for the Commonwealth who shall be entitled to respond and represent the interests of the Commonwealth. The court shall hold a hearing on the petition if requested by either the petitioner or the attorney for the Commonwealth.

S.B. 199

Patron: Blevins

Compensation and expenses of clerks of certain circuit courts; Virginia Beach.  Requires the City of Virginia Beach to assume the salaries and expenses of the circuit court clerk's office and allows the City to retain the funds the office collects.

S.B. 258

Patron: Lucas

Funding of circuit court clerks' offices; fees.  Creates a local fee retention funding method for circuit court clerks' offices in which the clerk retains fees locally and pays 20 percent of gross fees to the state to be held by the Compensation Board in a trust fund beginning July 1, 2012. Currently, fees are paid to the state and apportioned by the Compensation Board back to localities. The trust fund created would be used to fund those offices that did not receive enough revenue in fees to maintain operations. The bill also gives the clerk discretion in docketing judgments in favor of the Commonwealth, and removes the prohibition against charging fees for orders of publication; entries on judgments and liens; filing appraisers', special receivers', and commissioners' reports; attested copies of final orders or decrees; and filing lumberman's mark. Finally, the bill requires that attorney fees for collection of moneys due the Commonwealth be paid over and above the moneys collected, not out of the moneys collected.

S.B. 300

Patron: Miller, J.C.

DUI offenses; passenger age 18 or younger; penalties.  Creates a new offense of driving under the influence with a passenger who is 18 years of age or younger, which is a Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 6 felony for a second offense with certain mandatory minimums. The bill also amends the DUI involuntary manslaughter statute to provide that the death of a person age 18 or younger is automatically aggravated manslaughter. If the conduct is already aggravated manslaughter and the victim is a person age 18 or younger, the minimum punishment is increased by one year. The bill also amends the DUI malicious wounding statute to increase the penalty from a Class 6 to a Class 5 felony if the victim is age 18 years or younger.

S.B. 320

Patron: Ruff

Crimes; falsely summoning or giving false reports to law-enforcement officials; penalty.  Increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony falsely summoning or giving false reports to a law-enforcement official.

S.B. 331

Patron: Stuart

Petition to restore right to possess, etc., firearm; notice to attorney for the Commonwealth.  Provides that if a person files a petition to restore his right to possess or carry a firearm, a copy of the petition shall be served on the attorney for the Commonwealth of the city or county in which the petition is filed. The attorney for the Commonwealth shall be made a party defendant to the proceeding and may file an objection or answer to the petition within 21 days after service.

S.B. 397

Patron: Wagner

Misdemeanor fines.  Provides that the maximum fine for a misdemeanor is raised each July 1, starting July 1, 2011, by an amount approximately equal to the annual rate of inflation for the previous calendar year.

S.B. 422

Patron: Wampler

Drug Treatment Court Act; City of Bristol. Establishes a drug treatment court in the City of Bristol subject to the requirements and conditions established by the state Drug Treatment Court Advisory Committee, provided the court is funded within existing state and local appropriations.

S.B. 462

Patron: Howell

Crime victims; immigration status.  Provides that no law-enforcement officer or other agent of state or local government shall, when investigating a crime, inquire into the immigration status of any person who reports that he is the victim of the crime or the parent or guardian of a minor victim, or is a cooperating witness in the criminal investigation or the parent or guardian of a minor witness. The bill does not prohibit a law-enforcement officer from inquiring into the immigration status of a victim or witness who has been arrested or charged with a criminal violation, or when such inquiry is required by federal law or is essential to the investigation or prosecution of the crime to which the person is a witness or of which the person is a victim.