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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2011 SESSION
Chairman: Henry L. Marsh III
Clerk: Angi Murphy, Cheryl Law
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: January 24, 2011
Time and Place: 9:00 AM - Senate Room A
Patron: Norment
Penalties for possession, sale, gift, distribution or possession with intent to sell, give or distribute synthetic marijuana. Creates a new category for "synthetic marijuana" as a series of controlled substances listed in Schedule 1 (§ 54.1-3446) of the Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.). Notwithstanding the provisions regarding punishment for possession and distribution of controlled substances listed in Schedule 1, punishment for possession and distribution of synthetic marijuana is largely in accord with the provisions for actual marijuana.
Patron: Reynolds
Preliminary protective orders. Makes the prohibition on purchasing and transporting a firearm applicable to persons subject to preliminary protective orders that contain a finding of abuse or neglect. Under current law, persons subject to a preliminary protective order are prohibited from purchasing or transporting a firearm regardless of any court finding.
Patrons: Saslaw, Norment
Medical malpractice cap. Sets the maximum amount recoverable in a medical malpractice action arising from an act or acts of malpractice occurring on or after July 1, 2012, at $2.05 million. Currently the limit is $2 million. The $2.05 million limit will increase by $50,000 annually each July 1 thereafter until July 1, 2031, which shall be the final annual increase.
Patron: McEachin
Jurisdictional limits of courts. Increases from $15,000 to $25,000 the maximum civil jurisdictional limit of general district courts.
Patron: Obenshain
Expert witnesses; literature designations. Provides that if any party, during the direct examination of his own expert witness, intends to rely on statements in treatises, periodicals, or pamphlets previously designated by an opposing party, copies of such specific statements must be provided to all parties within 10 days after receipt of the opposing party's designation unless ordered by the court. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Obenshain
Attorney liability to client. Removes language from statute authorizing attorney malpractice actions that provides that damages not exceeding 15%, in lieu of interest, may be awarded against the attorney. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: McEachin
Professions; lawyers; client accounts. Repeals the provision prohibiting the Supreme Court from adopting a disciplinary rule requiring that lawyers deposit client funds in an interest-bearing account.
Patron: Edwards
Mental health courts. Provides that any district court or circuit court may establish a mental health court, which is a separate court docket within the existing calendar of a district or circuit court offering judicial monitoring of the treatment and supervision of certain individuals with mental illness who are under the jurisdiction of the criminal court. The court is required to (i) identify eligible individuals; (ii) obtain services from a willing local community services board or behavioral health authority serving the territorial jurisdiction of the court and which can provide, or contract for, appropriate treatment and services for the offender or, from a program offered to any eligible veteran by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; (iii) maintain court-established treatment and compliance terms of participation; and (iv) monitor adherence to court requirements.
Patron: Edwards
Publication of unlawful photographs; penalty. Provides that it is a Class 6 felony for a person to publish on the Internet a photograph or video made in violation of the current law prohibiting photographing, etc., a nonconsenting person in certain situations where there is an expectation of privacy.
Patron: McEachin
Court fees. Increases from $10 to $14 the additional court fees that are collected, upon commencement of a civil action in circuit or general district court, in cities and counties in which free, civil legal representation is provided for the poor by a nonprofit legal aid program organized under the auspices of the Virginia State Bar. The bill also changes from $9 to $13 the amount that, from such additional fee, is to be credited to the Virginia State Bar's Legal Aid Services Fund.
Patron: McDougle
Penalty for certain crimes against adults 60 years of age or older. Increases criminal penalties when the victim of the offense is 60 years of age or older and the offender knows or reasonably should know the victim of the offense is 60 years of age or older as follows: Any person who commits a grand larceny shall be punished by a term of imprisonment of not less than two nor more than 20 years. Any person who obtains money by false pretenses is guilty of a Class 3 felony. Any person who signs another's name to a writing is guilty of a Class 4 felony. Any person who commits an identity theft resulting in financial loss of greater than $200 is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Any person who commits a second or subsequent offense shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years in addition to the punishment provided for such offense.
Patron: McDougle
Property conveyance. Authorizes the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to grant and convey a permanent easement and right-of-way across the bed of the Piankatank River and a permanent easement and right-of-way across the bed of the Narrows, including a portion of the Baylor Survey, to Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion Virginia Power), for the purpose of installing and operating a submarine electric distribution cable system.
Patron: Marsh
Property transfer; Virginia Commonwealth University: City of Richmond. Authorizes the board of visitors of Virginia Commonwealth University to convey certain real property to the City of Richmond. Under the bill, the property must be used for the official Richmond Slave Trail located in the Richmond, Virginia and that such use must commence within five years of the conveyance. If these conditions are not met, the property shall revert to the board of visitors of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Patron: Miller, J.C.
Servicemembers and veterans courts. Establishes the Servicemembers and Veterans Court Act. The bill allows the establishment of servicemembers and veterans 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 appear to suffer from mental illness, alcohol or drug abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, or traumatic brain injury, any of which appear to be related to military service, including, readjustment to civilian life. A state military members and veterans court advisory committee is established and localities intending to establish servicemembers and veterans courts are required to establish advisory committees. The Supreme Court of Virginia is given administrative oversight for the implementation of the Act.
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: Edwards
Fees collected by circuit court clerks. Clarifies that the filing of a counterclaim or any other responsive pleading in annulment, divorce and separate maintenance proceedings is not subject to the $60 fee charged by circuit court clerks. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Wagner
Conveyance of state-owned bottomlands. Creates an administrative procedure that allows the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to convey title to filled subaqueous bottomlands if the applicant can provide evidence that such fill was lawfully deposited. The bill also removes the requirement that grantees compensate the Commonwealth in an amount equivalent to 25 percent of the assessed value of the specified parcel. Grantees will pay a fee to the Commonwealth in an amount reasonably related to the costs to effect the conveyance.
Patron: Quayle
Bad checks; child support; penalties. Specifies that writing a bad check for child or spousal support is subject to the criminal penalties for bad checks. The bill also adds writing a bad check for child or spousal support on behalf of a business, firm, or corporation knowing that there are insufficient funds to the provisions that make it a Class 1 misdemeanor or Class 6 felony ($200 or more) for an employer to write a bad check for wages.
Patron: Marsden
Nonjudicial records; costs. Provides that the party requesting a subpoena or on whose behalf an attorney-issued subpoena duces tecum was issued for nonjudicial records is liable for the reasonable charges of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision or agency of the Commonwealth, including searching, copying, and mailing the items produced.
Patron: Smith
Property transfer; Department of General Services; Mennel Milling Company. Authorizes the Department of General Services to convey certain real property to the Mennel Milling Company located in Roanoke County, Virginia. The property is in exchange for three parcels of land for use by the Virginia Department of Transportation for an area maintenance headquarters to serve the southwestern portion of Roanoke County. The bill includes an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
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).
Patron: Ruff
Department of Conservation and Recreation; conveyance of property. Authorizes the Department of Conservation and Recreation to divest itself of certain properties that were conveyed to it by Norfolk Southern Railroad for the High Bridge Trail State Park. These properties have no potential utility to the High Bridge Trail State Park and the divestiture would eliminate any liability to the Department associated with the private use of property by adjacent landowners, which preceded the donation by Norfolk Southern Railroad.
Patron: Herring
Crimes against incapacitated or elder adults; penalty. Provides that any person who commits an offense set forth in Chapter 4 (crimes against the person), Chapter 5 (crimes against property), or Chapter 6 (crimes involving fraud) of Title 18.2, knowing or having reason to know that the victim of the offense is an incapacitated or elder adult is guilty of a separate and distinct Class 1 misdemeanor if the underlying offense is a misdemeanor and a separate and distinct Class 6 felony if the underlying offense is a felony. The bill also provides that if the offender is a person responsible for the care of the victim, punishment shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of 30 days if the underlying offense is a misdemeanor and a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months if the underlying offense is a felony.
Patron: Herring
Financial exploitation of elderly or vulnerable adults; penalty. Provides that it is a Class 5 felony to knowingly, by deception, intimidation, undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, or misrepresentation, use, obtain, convert, or take control of an elderly or vulnerable adult's property or financial resources with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the adult of the use, benefit, or possession of the property or financial resources. If the violation is by a caregiver or person with a fiduciary relationship it is a Class 3 felony.
Patron: Ruff
Line of Duty Act; fire company personnel of the Virginia National Guard and the Virginia Air National Guard. Includes under the coverage of the Line of Duty Act individuals employed as fire company personnel for the Virginia Air National Guard or the Virginia National Guard's Fort Pickett Reserve.