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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: February 15, 2010
Time and Place: 9:00 a.m., Senate Room A
Patron: Obenshain
Criminal law; redefinition of the triggerman rule. Redefines the "triggerman rule," which currently provides that only the actual perpetrator of a capital murder is eligible for the death penalty and that accessories and principals in the second degree can be punished only as if guilty of first degree murder. This bill allows principals in the second degree and accessories before the fact to be charged as principals in the first degree in the cases of murder for hire, murder involving a continuing criminal enterprise, and terrorism. This bill allows, in all other cases of capital murder, a principal in the second degree to be tried as a principal in the first degree if he had the same intent to kill as the principal in the first degree. The bill allows an accessory before the fact to be tried as a principal in the first degree if he ordered or directed the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing.
Patron: Martin
Capital murder; fire and emergency personnel. Adds the following personnel to the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for the murder of such a person in the performance of the person's official duties: fire marshals and assistant fire marshals with law-enforcement powers, firefighters, special forest wardens, emergency medical technicians, lifesaving and rescue squad members, arson investigators, volunteer firefighters and lifesaving or rescue squad members if the governing body has adopted a resolution acknowledging the volunteers as employees for the purposes of workers' compensation, and persons certified as emergency medical service providers.
Patron: Martin
Prayer at public events. Provides that whenever an individual is requested to provide prayer, invocation, or benediction at a public event that is sanctioned by a governmental agency, such governmental agency shall have no authority to regulate how that individual refers to God in prayer or to prohibit the religious content of the individual's prayer, invocation, or benediction, provided such prayer, invocation, or benediction is not used to advance a particular religion or to disparage another faith or belief.
Patron: Lucas
Involuntary commitment, certification, and mandatory outpatient treatment orders; appeals. Reduces from 30 to 10 days the length of time for a person to appeal to circuit court an order for involuntarily commitment, mandatory outpatient treatment, or certification for admission to a training center. The bill also provides that an appeal does not operate to suspend any such order unless so ordered by a judge or special justice. The bill further provides that an order of the circuit court shall not extend the duration of involuntary admission or mandatory outpatient treatment set forth in the order appealed from. The bill also clarifies that the appeal shall be heard in accordance with the same provisions applicable to the original order. The bill also clarifies the role of the attorney for the Commonwealth in the appeal of such an order.
Patron: Reynolds
Concealed handgun permit applications; fingerprints. Removes the option for a locality to require that an applicant for a concealed handgun permit submit fingerprints as part of the application.
Patron: Petersen
Administrative impoundment of motor vehicles. Provides for the administrative impoundment of motor vehicles when driving without an operator's license.
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
Publication of notice of judicial retirement. Requires the Supreme Court or the Committee on District Courts to publish notice of a judge's intention to retire upon receipt of that notice instead of upon certification of the vacancy.
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: Obenshain
Child visitation. Provides that the court may order that a parent who has a documented history of alcohol abuse, as a condition of visitation, have an ignition interlock system installed on each vehicle that the parent drives with the child as a passenger.
Patron: McDougle
Toll facilities; civil penalties for violation. Places limitations on the amount of civil penalties that can be imposed for failure to pay tolls. A civil penalty may not be imposed for a second or subsequent offense unless the person was found liable for a previous offense. Civil penalties are limited to $2,500 in a calendar day, and $10,000 in a calendar year, in one court.
Patron: Edwards
Appeals of emergency protective and removal orders. Provides that a party shall file in circuit court, which shall hear and determine, any petition for a preliminary protective/removal order if (i) the party previously filed in juvenile and domestic relations district court a petition for an emergency protective/removal order; (ii) the juvenile and domestic relations district court issued such order for the emergency protection/removal of a child; (iii) a timely appeal of the order was filed by the parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis of the child; (iv) the circuit court set a hearing on the appeal for a date certain or on a motions docket to be heard within five days of the entry of the emergency protective/removal order; and (v) the purpose for which the party seeks a petition for a preliminary protective/removal order is for the protection/removal of the same child. The juvenile and domestic relations district courts shall be divested of the right to enter any preliminary protective/removal order that involves the same child if all of the conditions set forth in clauses (i) through (v) exist.
Patron: Quayle
Notice of lien on financial institutions. Provides that any judgment creditor serving a notice of lien on a financial institution shall, within five business days of such service, mail to the judgment debtor at his last known address a copy of the notice of lien along with a notice of exemptions and claim for exemption form. The judgment creditor or attorney for the judgment creditor shall file a certification with the court affirming that he has mailed the judgment debtor these notices. If the judgment creditor fails to mail the notices, the financial institution shall release to the judgment debtor any funds otherwise subject to the lien. In the event that the judgment creditor fails to comply, he shall be liable to the judgment debtor for no more than $500 in damages, unless he proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure was not willful.
Patron: Lucas
Concealed handgun permits; disqualifying convictions. Provides that a conviction from another state for driving while intoxicated or for drunkenness in public within the preceding three years disqualifies an individual from obtaining a concealed handgun permit.
Patron: Norment
Capital murder; auxiliary police officers; penalty. Adds auxiliary police officers and auxiliary deputy sheriffs to the definition of law-enforcement officer in the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for the murder of such an officer.
Patron: Marsden
Punishment and options for person convicted of nonpayment of child support. Provides that a person convicted of DUI and issued a restricted license may be issued such a license for travel to and from appointments required as a participant in a court-ordered intensive case monitoring program for child support. The bill also provides that the Department of Motor Vehicles shall not renew a driver's license or terminate a license suspension imposed for nonpayment of child support until it has received from the Department of Social Services a certification that a person ordered by a juvenile and domestic relations district court into an intensive case monitoring program for child support for noncustodial parents continues successful participation in the program or has completed the program. The bill also provides for the option of home/electronic incarceration of a person convicted of nonsupport.
Patron: Reynolds
Discretion of law-enforcement officer to arrest or issue summons for a jailable offense. Gives a law-enforcement officer discretion to arrest or to issue a summons to a person in his custody for having committed a Class 1 or 2 misdemeanor. Currently, the officer must issue a summons unless the person refuses to cease his criminal activity, is a danger to himself or others, or indicates he will disregard a summons.
Patron: Quayle
Courts not of record; jurisdiction of small claims court. Increases from $5,000 to $10,000 the ceiling of the jurisdictional amount of a small claims court. The maximum amount that may be claimed in small claims court shall be adjusted July 1, 2015, and on July 1 every five years thereafter, in an amount equal to the cumulative annual increases for that five-year period in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Patron: Norment
Appeals from courts not of record in civil cases. Provides that the minimum amount in controversy in a civil case for which there shall be an appeal of right to a court of record shall be annually adjusted by a percentage equal to the annual rate of inflation, as calculated by referring to the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Currently, there shall be an appeal of right to a court of record from any order entered or judgment rendered in a court not of record in a civil case in which the matter in controversy is of greater value than $50.
Patron: Marsden
Attorney-issued summons; protective orders. Eliminates the prohibition on attorney-issued summonses to compel attendance of witnesses in civil proceedings relating to issuance of Protective Orders pursuant to Article 4 (§ 16.1-246 et seq.), and authorizes the sheriff to serve an attorney-issued summons in less than five business days prior to required attendance.