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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.
2010 SESSION
Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Date of Meeting: January 25, 2010
Time and Place: 9:00 AM, Senate Room A
Patron: Stuart
Mandatory retirement for district court judges. Increases the mandatory retirement age for district court judges from 70 to 76.
Patron: Martin
Registered voters; disqualified jurors; report. Requires court clerks who receive notice that a juror is no longer qualified to serve as a juror in the locality where he is summoned, due to his no longer being a resident of the locality or of the Commonwealth, to furnish a list of such jurors to the State Board of Elections. The State Board will utilize this information as part of its voter list maintenance program to determine if such jurors should be placed on inactive voter status.
Patron: McDougle
Certificates of analysis and affidavits. Clarifies that the provisions requiring notification of defendants by the Commonwealth must be followed only if the certificate or affidavit is to be used in lieu of testimony. The bill also requires the defendant to provide the Commonwealth with a certificate of analysis no later than 14 days before trial if the accused intends to introduce an independent blood analysis, and makes some other changes to legislation enacted during the August 2009 Special Session in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. ___ (June 25, 2009).
Patron: Stuart
Certificates of analysis and affidavits. Amends legislation enacted during the August 2009 Special Session in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. ___ (June 25, 2009) to state that provisions requiring a 28-day notification to the defendant must be followed only if the certificate or affidavit is to be used in lieu of testimony. The bill also states that the copies that must be filed with the clerk may be filed within two days after being provided to the defendant rather than on the same day. Testimony by two-way video conferencing is allowed with the consent of the defendant. The time limit for continuances is extended from not more than 180 days for a person who is not incarcerated and 90 days for a person who is incarcerated to nine months and five months respectively.
Patron: Edwards
Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA). Establishes in the Code of Virginia the Uniform Act that was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2006. The UPOAA consists of default rules that can be modified if the principal desires. Powers of attorney will be durable unless drafted to expire upon a specified date or event. The UPOAA addresses creation and use, good faith reliance, limitations of agent's powers, refusal to recognize, judicial review, notification of resignation, and other matters. The UPOAA contains an optional statutory form.
Patron: Northam
Space flight liability and immunity; sunset. Repeals the July 1, 2013, expiration date on the act establishing space flight liability and immunity.
Patron: Northam
Privileged communications of certain committees and entities. Provides that the exchange of privileged, health care-related information between health care providers or committees, boards, groups, commissions, or other entities that function primarily to review, evaluate, or make recommendations regarding health care shall not constitute a waiver of privilege.
Patron: Blevins
Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA). Establishes in the Code of Virginia the Uniform Act that was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2006. The UPOAA consists of default rules that can be modified if the principal desires. Powers of attorney will be durable unless drafted to expire upon a specified date or event. The UPOAA addresses creation and use, good faith reliance, limitations of agent's powers, refusal to recognize, judicial review, notification of resignation, and other matters. The UPOAA contains an optional statutory form that may be used by an agent to certify facts concerning a power of attorney.
Patron: Edwards
Judicial retirement; mandatory retirement. Adjusts the mandatory retirement age under judicial retirement to age 73. Currently, judges are required to retire at age 70. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council.
Patron: Howell
Electronic filing of cases in circuit courts. Establishes electronic filing of cases in circuit courts by providing for acceptance of electronic images as original documents for filing and recording, and for the attachment of electronic seals or stamps for original signatures and notarizations in civil cases. However, the bill does not allow for electronic filing in certain classes of cases where particular forms are specified by statute (e.g., creation and execution of wills, codicils, testamentary trusts, premarital agreements, and negotiable instruments). This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council.
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 may hold an ex parte hearing on such a motion and may order the appointment of an expert. Prior to an ex parte proceeding, communication, or request, a particularized need for confidentiality must be demonstrated in an adversarial proceeding. A 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 court may unseal the record after the trial is concluded for good cause shown.
Patron: Lucas
Detention of transferred or certified juveniles. Provides that juveniles whose criminal cases have been transferred to circuit court or certified be placed in juvenile detention centers rather than in adult correctional facilities. If the juvenile demonstrates that he is a threat to the security or safety of the other juveniles detained or the staff of the home or facility, he may be moved to an adult facility if authorized by a judge.
Patron: Deeds
Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act; definition of law-enforcement officer. Includes certain employees of a sheriff's department under the coverage of the Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act, so long as the employees would not be considered exempt employees for purposes of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Patron: Obenshain
Jury panel; disclosure to counsel. Changes from 48 hours to two full business days the time period when a copy of the jury panel shall be made available to all counsel of record in the case. This bill is a recommendation of Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Obenshain
Attorney-client privilege; work product protection; limitations on waivers. Provides that when the disclosure of a communication or information covered by attorney-client privilege or work product protection made in a proceeding or to any public body operates as a waiver of the privilege or protection, such waiver only extends to undisclosed communications or information if (i) the waiver was intentional, and (ii) the disclosed and undisclosed communications or information concern the same subject matter and ought in fairness be considered together. Inadvertent disclosures do not operate as a waiver if reasonable steps were taken to prevent disclosure and to rectify the error. The bill also provides that an agreement between parties as to the effect of a disclosure is only binding upon the parties to the agreement unless it has been incorporated into a court order. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Obenshain
Admissibility in evidence of non-existence of an official record. Provides that an affidavit signed by a government official deemed to have custody of an official record, or signed by his designee, stating that after a diligent search, no record or entry of such record is found to exist among the records in his custody, is admissible as evidence that his office has no such record or entry, provided that the procedures for admission of such an affidavit as set forth in the statute governing admission of affidavits indicating non-registration of a sex offender have been followed, mutatis mutandis.
Patron: Obenshain
Certificates of analysis in criminal cases. Amends legislation enacted during the August 2009 Special Session in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. ___ (June 25, 2009) to state that if the Commonwealth intends to have testimony by two-way video conferencing that information must be provided to the defendant in the notice that the Commonwealth is otherwise required to provide and the defendant must specifically object or he waives his right to object.
Patron: Wagner
Courthouse assessments. Allows localities to raise the fee assessed for courthouse construction, renovation, or maintenance above the current authorized amount of $2 once every two years based upon the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index.
Patron: Hurt
Witnesses in criminal trial. Allows the attorney for the Commonwealth to designate, in felony cases, one investigative law-enforcement official who may remain in the courtroom, unless the court determines that his presence would impair the conduct of a fair trial.
Patron: Norment
Constitutionality of local ordinances. Permits a locality to obtain a determination by the circuit court as to the constitutionality of a local ordinance that has been held to be unconstitutional in a court not of record. Currently, only the Commonwealth is able to obtain such a determination.
Patron: Norment
Mandatory dispute resolution; custody, visitation, and child support. Provides that parties in cases involving custody, visitation, and child support must be referred to, and must attend, a dispute resolution orientation session.
Patron: Marsden
Appointment of counsel for juveniles in correctional facilities. Provides that the judge of a juvenile and domestic relations district court in a jurisdiction where a state juvenile correctional facility is located shall appoint one or more attorneys to assist juveniles confined to such facilities with legal matters relating to their confinement. The attorney shall be paid from the criminal fund.
Patron: Marsden
Retention of jurisdiction by juvenile and domestic relations district courts. Provides that a juvenile and domestic relations district court retains jurisdiction over a juvenile even if the juvenile is in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Currently, the court does not retain jurisdiction over a juvenile in the custody of the Department.
Patron: Marsden
Felony assault and battery against a mass transit operator. Provides that it is a Class 6 felony to commit an assault or battery upon a mass transit operator defined as a person who operates any train, bus, trolley or van that is designed to carry six or more passengers.
Patron: Marsden
Detention of juveniles in secure facility; possession of certain firearms by juveniles. Clarifies that a juvenile may be detained in a secure facility if the juvenile is alleged to have violated § 18.2-308.7 (possession or transportation of a handgun or assault weapon by a person under the age of 18).
Patron: Locke
Crimes; assault and battery of ABC agent. Provides for an offender who assaults a special agent of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control because of his employment to be prosecuted for a Class 6 felony.