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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.
2012 SESSION
Chairman: Thomas K. Norment, Jr.
Clerk: Angi Murphy, Cheryl Law
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Walsh
Date of Meeting: February 27, 2012
Time and Place: 8:00 AM, Senate Room B - GAB
Patron: Knight
Projecting a laser at an aircraft; penalty. Provides that any person, except as authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration or the armed forces of the United States, who projects a laser at an aircraft and interferes with the operation of the aircraft threatening life and safety and therefore is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron: Loupassi
Rules of Evidence; adoption. Provides that the Rules of Evidence (available here) that have been prepared and adopted by the Supreme Court of Virginia and approved by the Virginia Code Commission shall take effect on July 1, 2012. Current evidentiary provisions in the Code of Virginia that are included in the Rules of Evidence are maintained in the Code. Subsequent amendments or additions to the Rules of Evidence must be adopted by the Supreme Court of Virginia by December 15 and shall become effective on July 1 of the following year unless the General Assembly modifies or annuls such amendments or additions by general law. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission.
Patron: Miller
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.
Patron: Peace
Number of circuit court judges; Fifteenth and Seventeenth Judicial Circuits. Increases the number of circuit court judges in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit from eight to nine, and decreases the number of such judges in the Seventeeth Judicial Circuit from four to three.
Patron: Iaquinto
Correcting errors in deeds; affidavit. Allows, in the event that a recorded deed or other instrument contains an obvious description error, the recordation of a corrective affidavit by an attorney, settlement agent, or title insurance company involved in the transaction that resulted in the recordation of the deed or other instrument needing correction. Obvious description errors include (i) errors transcribing courses and distances, (ii) errors incorporating previously recorded plat or deed references, (iii) errors incorporating tax map or other identification numbers, and (iv) omitted exhibits that supply property parcel descriptions. Before a corrective affidavit may be recorded, all parties to the deed or other instrument and, if necessary, the title insurance company, must be provided with a copy of the affidavit and such parties have 30 days to object in writing to the recordation of the corrective affidavit. If a corrective affidavit is recorded, the title insurance company shall amend the title insurance policy and deliver a copy of the amended policy to all parties to the policy.
Patron: Miller
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.
Patron: Cox, J.A.
Emergency management plans; victims' rights. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund to be the lead coordinating agencies for individuals determined to be victims during critical events and emergencies under emergency management plans developed by school boards, institutions of higher education, the Board of Health, the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, the Department of Emergency Management, and political subdivisions.
Patron: Comstock
Crimes by gangs. Includes within the definition of "predicate criminal act" the offenses of the taking or detaining of any person into a place for the purpose of prostitution and the receiving of money from earnings of any person engaged in prostitution.
Patron: Marshall, D.W.
Uniform Flag Act. Provides that whenever a member of the United States armed forces, a police officer, a firefighter, or an Emergency Medical Services provider who is a resident of Virginia is killed in the line of duty, all flags, national, state, and local, flown at any building owned by the Commonwealth shall be flown at half staff or mast for one day to honor and acknowledge respect for those who made the supreme sacrifice. The Department of General Services is to develop procedures to effectuate the purposes of the bill.
Patron: Morris
Racketeering; forfeiture. Amends provisions that allow for forfeiture of real or personal property used in substantial connection with racketeering offenses to provide that the interest or profits derived from the investment of the forfeited money may also be forfeited.
Patron: Cline
Supreme Court of Virginia; judicial caseloads; weighted caseload system. Requires the Supreme Court to develop and implement a weighted caseload system to assess judicial caseloads throughout the Commonwealth, and using that system, requires the Court to determine the need for judicial positions and the optimum distribution of judicial positions throughout the Commonwealth and to prepare a recommended plan for the realignment of the circuit and district boundaries.
Patron: Cline
Inherent authority to defer and dismiss a criminal case. Provides that no court shall have the authority, upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or after a plea of not guilty, when the facts found by the court would justify a finding of guilt, to defer proceedings or to defer entry of a final order of guilt or to dismiss the case upon completion of terms and conditions except as provided by statute unless all parties agree otherwise or deferred judgment is provided for by statute. This bill responds to the January 13, 2011, Supreme Court of Virginia decision in Hernandez v. Commonwealth, 281 Va. 222, 707 S.E.2d 273 (2011). This bill incorporates HB 51.
Patron: Cline
Strangulation; penalty. Provides that any person who, without consent, impedes the blood circulation or respiration of another person by knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully applying pressure to the neck of such person, resulting in the wounding or bodily injury of such person is guilty of strangulation, a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Landes
Law-enforcement officers; campus police officers. Provides that campus police officers, as appointed by public and private institutions of higher education, are included within the definition of law-enforcement officer.
Patron: May
Use of electronic tracking devices; penalty. Provides that any person who uses an electronic tracking device through intentionally deceptive means and without consent to track the location of another person is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. The bill includes exceptions. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Technology and Science.
Patron: Albo
Virginia Child Protection Accountability System. Requires the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission to report information about sentences imposed in cases involving certain criminal violations and requires the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia to report information from the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts' Case Management System on removal orders, protective orders, and protective orders alleging family abuse to the Virginia Child Protection Accountability System. This bill is identical to SB 363.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Issuance of fire investigation warrant; State Police arson investigators. Authorizes State Police arson investigators to obtain administrative warrants to investigate fires. Current law only authorizes fire marshals to obtain such warrants.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Arresting officer to ascertain citizenship of arrestee. Supplements the existing law that requires sheriffs to make a query into legal presence when a person is "taken into custody" at a jail. This bill expands such inquiries by requiring inquiries of everyone arrested, and requires that an arresting officer inquire of every arrestee whether he (i) was born in a country other than the United States and (ii) is a citizen of a country other than the United States. This bill incorporates HB 89 and HB 320.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Solicitation of child pornography. Provides that any person who commands, entreats, or otherwise attempts to persuade another person to send, submit, transfer, or provide to him any child pornography in order to gain entry into a group, association, or assembly of persons engaged in trading or sharing child pornography shall be punished by not less than five years nor more than 20 years in a state correctional facility, with a five-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for a second or subsequent violation.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Displaying a grooming video or materials to a minor; penalty. Provides that any person who displays child pornography or a grooming video or materials to a minor is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill defines grooming video or materials as (i) a cartoon, animation, image, or series of images depicting a child engaged in a sex act when the minor to whom the material is displayed is less than 13 years of age.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Criteria for involuntary commitment. Provides that when a court is to make a decision as to whether it should involuntarily commit a person for 30 days when less restrictive alternatives are inappropriate, it shall consider in addition to other relevant evidence, whether the person recently has been found by a court to be unrestorably incompetent to stand trial.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Public service corporations and companies; governmental utility corporation. Clarifies that a government utility corporation (a county or municipality, or entity or agency thereof, that provides or operates specified authorized utility services) shall be considered to be acting as a public service corporation or public service company with regard to the provision of such authorized utility services for the purposes of any taking of private property by eminent domain in accordance with the Constitution of Virginia.
Patron: Ramadan
Enforcement of immigration laws; agreement with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Provides that the Superintendent of State Police shall seek to enter into a memorandum of agreement with United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as authorized under 8 U.S.C. § 1357(g), to permit the State Police to perform federal immigration law-enforcement functions in the Commonwealth after arrest of an alien.
Patron: Cosgrove
Line of Duty Act; definition of deceased person; DMV. Includes any full-time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles in the definition of “deceased person” for the purposes of the Line of Duty Act.
Patron: Poindexter
Department of State Police; access to electronic evidence. Provides for access by the Department of State Police to certain electronic evidence, documentation, and related materials that may be physically located outside the Commonwealth but that may be accessed by insurance professionals conducting business within the Commonwealth.
Patron: Purkey
Mechanics' lien' notice. Provides that any person intending to perfect a mechanics' lien against a one- or two-family residential dwelling unit must send the mechanics' lien agent designated on the building permit or, if no agent is designated, the property owner written notice of his intention at least 30 days before filing the memorandum of lien with the clerk of the court. The bill also provides that if no mechanics' lien agent is designated on the building permit, the permit shall contain the name and mailing address of the property owner.
Patron: Ward
Transfer of certain property in the City of Hampton. Provides that the Department of General Services, on behalf of the Department of Education and the Commonwealth of Virginia, with the approval of the Governor, is authorized to convey its interest in certain property located in the City of Hampton.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Jones
Punishment and civil commitment of sexually violent predators; penalty. Imposes upon an adult offender a mandatory minimum life sentence for rape, forcible sodomy, and object sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13; and imposes upon a juvenile offender three or more years older than such a victim a mandatory term of 25 years. The bill also provides that the Director of the Department of Corrections, in coordination with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, shall develop assessment protocols to determine whether the prisoner or defendant meets the definition of a sexually violent predator and shall report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2013. The bill also increases from 120 to 180 days the length of time the Commitment Review Committee has to complete its assessment of the prisoner or defendant for civil commitment and communicate its recommendation to the Attorney General. The bill has an effective date of January 1, 2013.
Patron: Stolle
Psychiatric hospital admissions; local inmates. Amends the criteria for psychiatric inpatient admission for inmates at local correctional facilities to add mentally ill inmates for whom there exists a substantial likelihood that they will suffer serious harm due to their lack of capacity to protect themselves from harm or to provide for their basic human needs. Under current law the standard is that the mentally ill inmate will cause serious physical harm to himself or others as evidenced by recent behavior causing, attempting or threatening harm.
Patron: Cline
Clerks of court; certain duties of the circuit court clerk. Clarifies when the clerk of the court may destroy case file papers, and also clarifies that a person seeking authorization to perform marriages must file a petition with the clerk and pay any applicable fees. The bill allows the clerk to require the filing of a separate instrument acknowledging a confessed judgment and relieves the clerk of the requirements to (i) obtain or update a list of volunteer firefighters and (ii) provide marriage license applicants with health information.
Patron: Reeves
Criminal procedure; GPS tracking device. Provides the authority and the protocol for a law-enforcement officer to apply for a search warrant to permit the use of a GPS tracking device.