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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: February 1, 2010
Time and Place: 9:00 a.m., Senate Room A

S.B. 25

Patron: Puller

Using transportation district trains without a valid ticket. Rewrites the code section that punishes unlawfully riding on a transportation district train. The bill punishes failure or refusal to pay the posted fare, or failure to properly validate a train ticket, as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a validated ticket outside of the zone of the ticketed ride as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a fraudulent or counterfeit ticket as a Class 2 misdemeanor. The bill limits the amount of recoverable costs to the same amount as the maximum fine.

S.B. 96

Patron: Quayle

Eluding police; penalty. Provides that a person who attempts to escape or elude a law-enforcement officer who has given a signal to bring the motor vehicle to a stop is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor whether the attempt to escape or elude is on foot, in the vehicle or by any other means.

S.B. 107

Patron: McDougle

Restricted learner's permit.  Authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a restricted learner's permit if the person is 19 years of age or older and a court has authorized or issued a restricted license to the person.

S.B. 149

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.

S.B. 155

Patron: Edwards

Commonwealth's lien for payment of medical services; limitations. Provides that a lien granted to the Commonwealth against any recovery from a third party obtained by an injured person whose medical costs were paid pursuant to the Virginia Medical Assistance Program shall only attach to the portion of the claim representing compensation for medical expenses incurred by the injured person. In the course of determining the amount of the Commonwealth's lien, a court may determine the fairness of any allocation of the proceeds from a claim for medical expenses. The bill is intended to bring Virginia law in conformity with the United States Supreme Court's decision in Arkansas Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268, 126 S.Ct. 1752, 164 L.Ed.2d 459 (2006). This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

S.B. 162

Patron: Edwards

Capital case sentencing forms.  Revises the statutory sentencing forms used in capital cases to add a form that provides that even if the jury finds future dangerousness and vileness it may sentence the defendant to life imprisonment rather than death. It also revises an existing form to make it clear that in order to impose a death sentence the jury's finding of future dangerousness or vileness must be unanimous. This bill addresses issues raised in Prieto v. Commonwealth, decided by the Virginia Supreme Court on September 18, 2009.

S.B. 176

Patron: McDougle

Preliminary hearing; testimony reduced to writing. Allows the district court judge conducting the preliminary hearing to order witness testimony reduced to writing. Under current law only the judge of the court of record to which the case has been or may be certified can make such an order. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.

S.B. 319

Patron: Ruff

Child support; child attending college. Provides that child support may be ordered for a child attending an institution of higher learning until the child obtains an undergraduate degree or reaches the age of 23.

S.B. 387

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.

S.B. 415

Patron: Vogel

Foster care and independent living services.  Requires local departments and child-placing agencies to provide independent living services to any person between 18 and 21 years of age who requests such services and is in the process of transitioning from foster care to self-sufficiency. The bill also extends the time period during which a person between the ages of 18 and 21 may request restoration of independent living services if they previously terminated such services. Local departments are required to provide a person who chooses to leave foster care or terminate independent living services written notice of their right to restore independent living services.

S.B. 489

Patron: Hurt

Juvenile court; interlocutory appeals by Commonwealth.  Allows the Commonwealth to appeal a juvenile court suppression ruling to circuit court and the Court of Appeals. Upon the motion of the Commonwealth the juvenile court must stay the proceedings and issue a written statement of its findings of law and relevant facts in support of its suppression ruling and submit the case to the circuit court for a de novo hearing. The hearing has priority on the circuit court's docket and if it upholds the suppression ruling, the Commonwealth may appeal to the Court of Appeals. The bill applies in preliminary hearings, transfer hearings and trials in juvenile court where the offense would be a felony if committed by an adult and to rulings prohibiting the use of certain evidence on the grounds that the evidence was obtained in violation of the provisions of the Fourth, Fifth or Sixth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States or Article I, Section 8, 10 or 11 of the Constitution of Virginia prohibiting illegal searches and seizures and protecting rights against self-incrimination.

The bill also allows the time limitations on secure detention to be extended for the Commonwealth's appeal and provides that written court decisions of the Court of Appeals shall not contain the first or last name of the juvenile.

S.B. 532

Patron: McDougle

Prohibition on wearing a mask; public emergency exception. Adds to the existing exemptions in the section making it a Class 6 felony for a person over the age of 16 to wear a mask in public or on private property without the owner's written consent an exception when the Governor has declared a disaster or state of emergency in response to a public health emergency.

S.B. 580

Patron: Marsden

Airsoft guns on school property; penalty.  Adds weapons designed to expel a projectile at a speed of more than 250 feet per second by action of compressed air or gas, such as an airsoft gun, to the list of weapons that are prohibited from being possessed on school property.

S.B. 584

Patron: Marsden

Using transportation district trains without a valid ticket. Rewrites the code section that punishes unlawfully riding on a transportation district train. The bill punishes failure or refusal to pay the posted fare, or failure to properly validate a train ticket, as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a validated ticket outside of the zone of the ticketed ride as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a fraudulent or counterfeit ticket as a Class 2 misdemeanor. The bill limits the amount of recoverable costs to the same amount as the maximum fine.

S.B. 592

Patron: Miller, J.C.

Veterans' mental health courts.  Allows, in Hampton Roads, the establishment of veterans' mental health courts as specialized court dockets within the existing structure of Virginia's court system, offering judicial monitoring of intensive treatment and supervision of offenders who are affected by mental illness, an alcohol or substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or traumatic brain injury, any of which appear to be related to military service, including, without limitation, any readjustment to civilian life that is necessary after service in the armed services. A state veterans' mental health court advisory committee is established and localities intending to establish veterans' mental health courts are required to establish local advisory committees. The Supreme Court of Virginia is given administrative oversight for the implementation of the act.

S.B. 599

Patron: Vogel

Electronic tracking devices in motor vehicles. Provides that any person who, with the intent to electronically track the location of a motor vehicle, knowingly installs or places an electronic tracking device, or causes an electronic tracking device to be installed or placed, in or on a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner or lessee, is guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor. This provision does not apply to the original manufacturer of the motor vehicle, law enforcement officers, judicial officers, probation and parole officers, bail bondsmen, and bail enforcement agents.

S.B. 635

Patron: Marsden

Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; name of offender's employer not to be published.  Provides that the name or company title of the employer of an offender included in the Registry shall not be made available on the database publicly available through the Internet.