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2012 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice

Chairman: Thomas K. Norment, Jr.

Clerk: Angi Murphy, Cheryl Law
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Walsh
Date of Meeting: February 8, 2012
Time and Place: 1/2 hour after adjournment; Senate Room B/GAB

H.B. 102

Patron: Loupassi

Injunctions; requirement for bond.  Requires a moving party to post bond only for temporary injunctions. Under current law, a bond is required for both temporary and permanent injunctions. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

H.B. 286

Patron: Iaquinto

Previous garnishments; costs.  Allows costs incurred by a judgment creditor in connection with a prior garnishment to be collected in a subsequent garnishment attempt that is based on the same judgment.

H.B. 362

Patron: McClellan

Exemptions from garnishment. Corrects the form listing garnishment exemptions by replacing the reference to "rent or services of a laborer or mechanic" with "spousal or child support" to reflect amendments made in 1990 (Acts, Ch. 942) that were never incorporated into the form. This bill also contains technical amendments. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.

H.B. 940

Patron: Lingamfelter

Purchase of handguns; eliminate limitation on handgun purchases.  Eliminates the prohibition on purchasing more than one handgun in a 30-day period.

S.B. 26

Patron: Stuart

Authority of conservation police officers.  Clarifies that conservation police officers may not stop a person for the purpose of determining compliance with the laws, rules, and regulations of the Commonwealth or its localities without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The bill also repeals a section of the Code allowing conservation police officers to inspect game and fish for the purposes of enforcing bag and creel limits without first making an arrest.

S.B. 58

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.

S.B. 97

Patron: Edwards

Barrier crimes; listing of crimes.  Clarifies the individual crimes included in the background check and barrier crime statutes affecting the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, certain licensees of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Department of Social Services, and certain licensees of the Department of Social Services.

S.B. 150

Patron: Puckett

Presumption of ownership of mineral rights.  Adds the rights to transport coal, gas, and oil to those rights presumed to be held by the owner of the shell. Current law provides only the right to transport minerals.

S.B. 166

Patron: Petersen

Homestead exemption; exemptions in bankruptcy petition; poor debtor’s exemption; bankruptcy exemptions.  Makes various changes to homestead exemptions, including providing that the official schedule of property claimed exempt filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court in a bankruptcy proceeding constitutes a sufficient writing to exempt such real and personal property from creditor process. Currently, the person claiming such an exemption must record a writing in the manner deeds are recorded where the person resides for personal property or where the real property is located. The bill provides that a claim of exemption shall only be effective for seven years from the date the exemption is first claimed. The bill also provides that a householder may hold exempt from creditor process real or personal property that the householder or his dependent claims as a primary residence not exceeding $25,000 in value. This exemption is in addition to the current $5,000 ($10,000 if the householder is 65 years of age or older) exemption allowed by law. The bill adds certain specific items of personal property to the list of what a debtor may hold exempt from creditor process.

The bill also repeals the provision that establishes that only the exemptions allowable under Virginia law, and not the exemptions specified in subsection (d) of § 522 of the Bankruptcy Reform Act, may be claimed in any bankruptcy proceeding. Currently, Virginia, as permitted by federal law, has opted out of the federal exemptions in favor of its own exemptions.

S.B. 208

Patron: Barker

Administrative suspension of license.  Changes the period of administrative license suspension upon arrest for a DUI from seven to 60 days and, for a second or subsequent offense, from 60 days until the time of trial.

S.B. 325

Patron: Carrico

Asset forfeitures. Consolidates certain forfeiture provisions found in two chapters in Title 19.2 and found in Title 4.1 and eliminates redundancies. The bill changes forfeiture requirements with respect to firearms. The bill also provides that, unless otherwise provided by law, forfeitures are to be governed by Chapter 22.1 (§ 19.2-386.1 et seq.) of Title 19.2.

S.B. 326

Patron: Carrico

Asset forfeiture.  Provides that forfeited drug assets are to be distributed in accordance with Article VIII, Section 8 of the Constitution of Virginia. The bill also provides that the seizing agency may request that forfeited drug assets be destroyed and that the circuit court may so order. The bill also provides that gambling asset forfeitures are governed by Chapter 22.1 (§ 19.2-386.1 et seq.) of Title 19.2 of the Code of Virginia and removes section-specific procedures.

S.B. 378

Patron: McEachin

DUI ignition interlock.  Provides that a person who is convicted of DUI is required to have an ignition interlock on the first offense as a condition of a restricted license. Currently, the requirement for an ignition interlock is imposed only upon a second or subsequent offense or when the offender's BAC is above 0.15 percent. The bill also adds passenger vehicles designed to transport more than 15 passengers to the types of vehicles that cannot be operated by a person who is required to have an interlock but who is otherwise permitted to operate a vehicle owned or provided by his employer in the course of his employment.

S.B. 434

Patron: Puller

Funeral protests; penalty.  Makes it unlawful for a person to disrupt a funeral or memorial service during the 60 minutes immediately preceding through the time immediately following such service with the intent to disrupt the service. A violation of this provision is a Class 2 misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class 1 misdemeanor for a subsequent offense.

S.B. 437

Patron: Obenshain

Eminent domain; lost profits and access.  Provides definitions for the terms "lost profits" and "lost access" and how to determine the amount of just compensation, which includes lost profits and lost access resulting from the taking, that must be paid for property taken by eminent domain. The bill has a contingent effective date of January 1, 2013, provided that the voters approve an amendment to Section 11 of Article I of the Constitution of Virginia at the 2012 November election.

S.B. 451

Patron: Vogel

Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act; regulation of medical assistance.  Makes several changes to the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (VFATA) and the laws governing the Attorney General's duties with regard to the regulation of medical assistance, including (i) exempting certain information furnished to the Attorney General from disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, (ii) imposing a three-year statute of limitations on claims for employer retaliation under the VFATA, (iii) permitting the Attorney General to share information obtained as part of a VFATA investigation with other state and federal governmental entities, (iv) allowing the Attorney General to propound interrogatories as part of an investigation of services furnished under medical assistance, and (v) requiring health care entities to disclose records to the Attorney General in connection with such investigations.

S.B. 541

Patron: Obenshain

Auxiliary police forces; Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish training requirements.  Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish compulsory training standards for all auxiliary police officers employed by or in any local or state government agency. Officers employed prior to July 1, 2012, are exempted from any initial training requirement until one year subsequent to the promulgation of such standards.

S.B. 586

Patron: Northam

Crimes by prisoners; penalties.  Provides that a prisoner may be charged under both the crimes by prisoners Code section and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and possession of a firearm by a felon.

S.B. 667

Patron: Garrett

Child endangerment; penalty.  Relocates the crime of child endangerment to Title 18.2 (Crimes and Offenses Generally) from Title 40.1 (Labor and Employment) in order to emphasize its general application. The bill does not make any substantive changes to the language of the relocated statute.