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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2013 SESSION
Chairman: Walter A. Stosch
Clerk: Patty Lung, Cheryl Law
Staff: Nicole Brenner, L. Wallmeyer
Date of Meeting: January 29, 2013
Time and Place: 9:00 a.m. - Senate Room B
Patron: Stuart
Financial exploitation of elderly or incapacitated adults; penalties. Provides that it is a felony punishable by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not less than one nor more than 20 years to knowingly and without legal justification, by deception, intimidation, undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, or misrepresentation, use, obtain, convert, or take control of an incapacitated adult's money, assets, property, or financial resources with the intent to 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 in a position of trust, it is a Class 3 felony. The bill allows forfeiture of personal property used in connection with the crime.
Patron: Stuart
Hoax explosive devices; penalty. Raises from a Class 6 felony to a Class 5 felony the construction, use, placement, sending, or causing to be sent any hoax explosive device so as to intentionally cause another person to believe that such device is a bomb or explosive.
Patron: Carrico
Substance abuse screening and assessment of public assistance applicants and recipients. Requires local departments of social services to screen each Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW) program participant to determine whether probable cause exists to believe the participant is engaged in the use of illegal substances. The bill provides that when a screening indicates reasonable cause to believe a participant is using illegal substances, the local department of social services shall require a formal substance abuse assessment of the participant, which may include drug testing. In cases in which drug testing is required, the cost of testing shall be paid by the Department of Social Services. Any person who fails or refuses to participate in a screening or assessment without good cause or who tests positive for the use of illegal substances shall be ineligible to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments for a period of one year, unless he enters into and complies with the requirements of a drug treatment program; however, an individual has one opportunity during the subsequent 12-month period to comply with the screening, assessment, or treatment requirements and be reinstated to eligibility for TANF benefits.
Patron: Stanley
Aggravated malicious wounding; penalty. Makes the aggravated malicious wounding of another without the specific intent to main, disfigure, disable, or kill a Class 6 felony.
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 filming, videotaping, or photographing a nonconsenting person in certain situations where there is an expectation of privacy.
Patron: Garrett
Felony punishment for subsequent misdemeanor sex offense; penalty. Provides that when a person is convicted of a specified misdemeanor sex offense and it is alleged in the warrant that he was convicted of two or more substantially similar offenses under the laws of another state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the United States within the previous 10 years, he is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Currently, the prior convictions are limited to convictions under Virginia law.
Patron: Garrett
Filing fraudulent liens or encumbrances against a public employee; penalty. Provides that any person who knowingly files a fraudulent lien or encumbrance in a public record against the real or personal property of a state or local employee, member of the General Assembly, member of a local governing body, constitutional officer or employee of a constitutional officer, or board member or employee of a regional jail or jail farm on account of the performance of the official duties of such member, employee, or officer, knowing or having reason to know that such lien or encumbrance is false or contains a materially false or fraudulent statement or representation is guilty of a Class 5 felony.
Patron: Stuart
Mandatory minimum sentences to be served consecutively; penalty. Provides that for all crimes where a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment must be imposed on the guilty party, such sentence shall be served consecutively with any other sentence imposed on such party. Currently, the Code is inconsistent as some crimes that require a mandatory minimum sentence require that such sentences be served consecutively while others do not.
Patron: Favola
Eligibility for TANF; drug-related felonies. Provides that a person who is otherwise eligible to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families assistance shall not be denied assistance solely because he has been convicted of a felony offense of possession of a controlled substance, provided that he complies with all obligations imposed by the court and the Department of Social Services, is actively engaged in or has completed substance abuse treatment, and participates in drug screenings.
Patron: Petersen
Assault and battery of magistrate; penalty. Elevates the punishment for committing an assault and battery against a magistrate who is engaged in the performance of his public duties from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony, with a six-month mandatory minimum term of confinement.
Patron: Blevins
Higher education; in-state tuition for military dependents. Expands eligibility for in-state tuition to certain dependents of active duty military personnel, or activated or temporarily mobilized reservists or guard members, who are either (i) assigned unaccompanied orders and immediately prior to receiving such unaccompanied orders were assigned to a permanent duty station or workplace geographically located in Virginia, or in a state contiguous to Virginia or the District of Columbia, and resided in Virginia or (ii) assigned unaccompanied orders with Virginia listed as the designated place move.
Patron: Vogel
Department of State Police; variable housing allowance. Provides a housing allowance for full-time, sworn State Police officers, based upon pay grade and geographical location, from funds that are appropriated for such purpose. The rates of the variable allowance shall be based on suggested rates developed and annually updated by the Department of Human Resource Management. The allowance would not be considered taxable income for state income tax purposes.
Patron: Stuart
School resource officers; local law-enforcement agencies to provide. Requires every school board throughout the Commonwealth to coordinate with the local law-enforcement agency to provide at least one school resource officer for every public elementary, middle, and high school within the district. The bill provides that funding for these school resource officers shall be provided through the general appropriation act and not by any locality or school board.
Patron: Miller
Public schools; physical activity requirement. Requires at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day during the regular school year for students in grades kindergarten through eight. This requirement becomes effective beginning with the 2015-2016 school year.
Patron: Barker
Temporary detention orders; duration. Increases the maximum duration that a person may be detained pursuant to a temporary detention order from 48 to 72 hours.
Patron: Stanley
Identity theft; penalties. Reorganizes existing identify theft law and revises penalties. Under existing law, many penalties are based on the amount of financial loss or the number of persons whose identifying information was misused. The bill eliminates those criteria.
Patron: Howell
Prostitution; solicitation of a minor. Provides that, in addition to the current Class 1 misdemeanor punishment for solicitation of prostitution generally, any person who solicits prostitution from a minor (i) 16 years of age or older is guilty of a Class 6 felony or (ii) younger than 16 years of age is guilty of a Class 5 felony.
Patron: Howell
Tax-paid contraband cigarettes; penalties. Increases the penalty for possession with intent to distribute more than 25 but fewer than 500 cartons of tax-paid cigarettes by a person other than an authorized holder from a Class 2 to a Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony for a second or subsequent offense. The bill also imposes a Class 6 felony for possession, with intent to distribute, of 500 or more cartons of tax-paid cigarettes by a person other than an authorized holder and a Class 5 felony for a second or subsequent offense.
Patron: Howell
Unstamped cigarettes; sale, transport, possession, etc.; penalties. Provides that it is a Class 6 felony to sell, purchase, transport, receive, or possess 500 or more packages of unstamped cigarettes and a Class 5 felony for a second offense; under current law, the threshold is 3,000 or more packages and there is no heightened penalty for a second offense. The bill also provides that it is a Class 1 misdemeanor to sell fewer than 500 packages of unstamped cigarettes; under current law the threshold is fewer than 3,000 packages and is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Patron: Howell
Counterfeit cigarettes; penalties. Provides that any person who knowingly distributes or possesses with the intent to distribute counterfeit cigarettes where the amount is fewer than 10 cartons is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 6 felony for a second or subsequent offense. If the amount is 10 or more cartons, the offense is a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Howell
RICO; contraband cigarettes; penalties. Adds possession with intent to distribute tax-paid contraband cigarettes as a qualifying offense under the Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
Patron: Reeves
Use of communications system to propose sex offenses involving a child. Provides that it shall be unlawful for any person 18 years of age or older to use a communications system, including computers, computer networks, bulletin boards, or any other electronic means, for the purposes of soliciting, with lascivious intent, any person he knows or has reason to believe is a child younger than 15 years of age to knowingly and intentionally propose that any such child feel or fondle his own sexual or genital parts. Currently it is unlawful to, among other things, propose that the child feel or fondle the sexual or genital parts of such person or propose that such person feel or fondle the sexual or genital parts of the child.
Patron: Reeves
Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry Act; offenses requiring registration. Adds to the list of offenses that require a person to register on the Sex Offender Registry any similar offense under the common law or codified law in effect at the time of the person's offense to those offenses that already require registration.
Patron: Reeves
Juvenile correctional centers; penalties. Imposes the same penalties for offenses committed by persons confined in a juvenile correctional center as currently exist for persons who commit such offenses in an adult facility. The bill provides that the punishment for committing an assault and battery against a person directly involved in the care, treatment, or supervision of persons in the custody or under the supervision of the Department of Corrections or Department of Juvenile Justice who is engaged in the performance of his public duties is a Class 6 felony, with a six-month mandatory minimum term of confinement. Under current law, this provision applies to employees of the Department of Corrections.
Patron: Herring
Lethality assessments; Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Victim Fund. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish a lethality assessment program for first responders and to adopt guidelines to make the resources of the Fund available to law-enforcement authorities or appropriate programs to implement an evidence-based lethality assessment program.
Patron: Herring
Stalking; electronic means; penalty. Provides that conduct that can constitute stalking includes electronic transmissions that produce a visual or textual message.
Patron: Herring
Synthetic cannabinoids; research chemicals; penalties. Amends provisions added to the Code in previous years regarding the criminalization of synthetic cannabinoids and chemicals known as "research chemicals" (previously referred to as "bath salts") to add newly identified chemical compounds and structural classes. In addition to adding new chemical compounds as synthetic cannabinoids, the bill adds newly identified structural classes of synthetic cannabinoids so that new chemical compounds that fit within the structural class will nevertheless be considered synthetic cannabinoids without the precise chemical compound having to be added to the Code.
Patron: Hanger
Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program; Expected Family Contribution. Broadens eligibility for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program by including students whose Expected Family Contribution, as calculated by the federal government using the family's financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), is no more than $12,000. Currently the program is available only to students whose Expected Family Contribution is no more than $8,000. The additional eligibility requirements for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program remain the same.
Patron: McDougle
DUI; alcohol monitoring devices. Allows persons convicted of a first offense DUI to wear a transdermal alcohol monitoring device (generally a bracelet around the ankle) that continuously monitors the person's blood alcohol level. A person who wears the device must refrain from any alcohol consumption and can get a restricted driver's license for the required suspension period that does not limit his destinations.
Patron: Ebbin
Prohibiting selling, etc., of firearms to certain persons; penalty. Adds persons found legally incompetent or mentally incapacitated, persons involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility or sent for involuntary outpatient mental health treatment, and those who were the subject of a temporary detention order and subsequently agreed to voluntary admission to a mental health facility to the list of persons for whom it is a Class 6 felony to sell, barter, give, or furnish a firearm if the seller knows that the person is prohibited from possessing or transporting a firearm.
Patron: Norment
Incest; definitions of parent, etc.; penalty. Provides that for the purposes of the crime of incest parent includes step-parent, grandparent includes step-grandparent, child includes step-child, and grandchild includes step-grandchild.
Patron: McEachin
Claims; Bennett Barbour. Provides relief in the amount of $162,844 to Bennett Barbour, who was incarcerated twice for a total of five years and nine months after being convicted of crimes of rape, burglary, and grand larceny; 324 days of his time served is attributable to the rape conviction. Mr. Barbour has been issued a writ of actual innocence for the rape conviction. The relief will be paid as follows: (i) an initial lump sum of $32,569 to be paid within 60 business days immediately following the execution of a release by Mr. Barbour from any present or future claims he may have and (ii) the sum of $130,275 to purchase an annuity before September 30, 2013, for the primary benefit of Mr. Barbour with the terms of such annuity structured in Mr. Barbour's best interests based on consultation among Mr. Barbour or his representatives, the State Treasurer, and other necessary parties. The bill also contains an emergency clause and will become law upon its passage.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Barker
Virginia Student Achievement Fund; established. Establishes the Virginia Student Achievement Fund that shall be used solely for the purposes of awarding grants on a competitive basis to any local school division or other qualified entity to fund student achievement improvement initiatives. At least 50 percent of the annual funds shall be granted to local school divisions or other qualified entities applying for funds for initiatives aimed at closing student achievement gaps among local school divisions, individual schools, and among all student subgroups identified pursuant to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Patron: McDougle
Sex offenses prohibiting proximity to children; penalty. Adds "use of a communications system to facilitate certain offenses involving children" to the offenses that prohibit an adult convicted of such an offense from loitering within 100 feet of a place he knows or has reason to know is a school or day care center and from going, for the purpose of having contact with children who are not in his custody, within 100 feet of any place owned or operated by a locality that he knows or should know is a playground, athletic field or facility, or gymnasium.
Patron: McDougle
Post-dispositional detention of juvenile in secure local facility. Changes the period of time for which a court may order the confinement in a detention home or secure facility of a juvenile who has been found to have committed an offense that if committed by an adult would be punishable by confinement in a state or local correctional facility from a period not to exceed six months for any crime to a period not to exceed six months for a misdemeanor and a period not to exceed 12 months for a felony. The bill also requires any juvenile placed in post-dispositional detention for a period of more than 90 days to have an individualized plan for the provision of educational, treatment, and rehabilitative services.
Patron: Barker
Teacher compensation; goal. States that it is a goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is competitive with the national average teacher salary.
Patron: Barker
Commonwealth Teaching Fellows Program established. Creates a Commonwealth Teaching Fellows Program in which the Board of Education or a local school division in conjunction with a Virginia college or university with an approved education preparation program may create and serve as Administrator of intensive programs of at least eight weeks in length to prepare career-switchers and recent college graduates who have not completed coursework in education to teach in areas including science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and critical teaching shortage areas in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth. The Administrator would assist Fellows to secure teaching positions. Any Fellow hired as a teacher by a local school division would be awarded a three-year provisional license to teach, would receive such further training as the Board prescribes, and would have the opportunity to obtain a permanent license upon completion of three years of teaching.
Patron: Blevins
Public schools; early intervention services for reading and mathematics. Adds kindergarten and grades one and two to the requirement that local school divisions provide early intervention services to students in grade three who demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on diagnostic reading tests. The bill requires local school divisions to provide algebra readiness intervention services to students in grades six through nine who are at risk of failing the Algebra I end-of-course test as demonstrated by their individual performance on diagnostic tests. The bill also removes the requirement that reading or mathematics specialists hired to provide such intervention services be licensed by the Board of Education.
Patron: Blevins
Standards of Quality; assignment of certain staff. Permits local school divisions that employ a sufficient number of librarians, guidance counselors, and school-based clerical personnel to meet the staffing requirements that are prescribed in Standard 2 of the Standards of Quality to assign librarians, guidance counselors, and school-based clerical personnel to schools within the division according to the area of greatest need, regardless of whether such schools are elementary, middle, or secondary.
Patron: Obenshain
Computer trespass; penalty. Provides that certain actions that constitute computer trespass, which under current law are Class 1 misdemeanors if done maliciously, are Class 1 misdemeanors if done unlawfully and Class 6 felonies if done maliciously.
Patron: Vogel
Crimes; assault and battery. Includes an employee or other individual who provides control, care, or treatment of sexually violent predators committed to the custody of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services within the enhanced penalty provision of the assault and battery section.
Patron: Vogel
Teacher performance; Strategic Compensation Grant Initiative created. Establishes the Strategic Compensation Grant Initiative and Fund, which provides that local school divisions may submit proposals to the Board of Education to receive grants that may be used as incentives to improve teacher and school performance. School divisions must include in their proposals a compensation model and designate teachers to receive awarded funds. The bill sets forth eligibility requirements for teachers receiving funds.
Patron: Martin
Career Pathways System Advisory Council; established. Establishes the Career Pathways System Advisory Council. The purpose of the council is to ensure the coordination and collaboration of career and technical education, adult education, and workforce development programs through business-driven sector strategies that provide for sequences of education and training articulated with higher levels of education and regional and state workforce needs and that also provide career coaching and advising support services and experiential learning. The Council will develop workforce readiness indicators, in coordination with the Virginia Workforce Council and the Council on Virginia's Future, which will include enrollment and graduation statistics in secondary, postsecondary, and adult education programs in science, technology, engineering, math, or health care-related areas; numbers of targeted industry certifications; and the Commonwealth's education and training capacity for key industry sectors, and will produce a scorecard documenting progress in these areas. The scorecard will also include a report on the progress of interagency collaboration and shared funding for the purposes of attaining select education and workforce development goals. The bill includes a sunset provision of July 1, 2016.
Patron: McDougle
Board of Education; regulations. Removes the requirement that the Board of Education promulgate regulations concerning the process for submitting proposals for the consolidation of school divisions and temporarily employed teachers.
Patron: McDougle
Criminal street gang predicate offenses. Expands the class of criminal street gang offenses to include all felony crimes against property, all felony drug offenses, and all felony offenses involving prostitution. The class also specifically includes all homicide offenses, some but not all of which would be considered "acts of violence" under the current law.
Patron: Stuart
Sentencing guidelines; definition of violent felony. Adds to the list of violent felonies: killing of a fetus, criminal street gang recruitment, strangulation of another, assault and battery when it is a hate crime, felony violation of a protective order, felony infected sexual battery, enticement to bomb, manufacture bombs, hoax explosive devices, etc., willfully discharging a firearm in a public place resulting in bodily injury, brandishing a machete or other bladed weapon near a school, wearing body armor while committing certain crimes, possession of assault or other firearm by aliens, display of grooming video to child, cross burning, burning object with intent to intimidate, placing a swastika with intent to intimidate, displaying noose with intent to intimidate, treason, escape of sexually violent predator, and unauthorized dissemination of fusion center information resulting in death or serious bodily injury. When an offense falls under the definition of violent felony, sentencing ranges are increased, punishment is statutorily enhanced for certain other offenses, eligibility for participation in a drug treatment court is restricted, there is a presumption against bail for persons illegally present in the United States, the definition of victim for the purpose of compensation of crime victims by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund is expanded, registration of tow truck drivers is prohibited, and restoration of voting rights is limited.
Patron: Marsden
Placement in secure local facility. Reduces the time period during which a juvenile who has committed an offense that would have been a misdemeanor if committed by an adult may be detained in a detention home or other secure local facility from a period not to exceed six months to a period not to exceed 90 days.
Patron: Lucas
Claims; Calvin Wayne Cunningham. Provides relief in the amount of $291,041 to Calvin Cunningham, who was incarcerated for a total of seven years after being convicted of crimes of rape and burglary. Mr. Cunningham has been issued a writ of actual innocence. The relief will be paid as follows: (i) an initial lump sum of $58,208 to be paid within 60 days immediately following the execution of a release by Mr. Cunningham from any present or future claims he may have and (ii) the sum of $232,833 to purchase an annuity before September 30, 2013, for the primary benefit of Mr. Cunningham with the terms of such annuity structured in Mr. Cunningham's best interests based on consultation among Mr. Cunningham or his representatives, the State Treasurer, and other necessary parties.
Patron: Deeds
School resource officers; local law-enforcement agencies to provide. Requires every school board throughout the Commonwealth to coordinate with the local law-enforcement agency to provide at least one school resource officer for every public elementary school within the district. The bill provides that funding for these school resource officers shall be provided through the general appropriation act and not by any locality or school board.
Patron: Norment
Felony DUI; penalty. Provides that any person convicted of a felony DUI offense (including DUI manslaughter and DUI maiming, by motor vehicle or watercraft) is guilty of a Class 6 felony for any subsequent DUI conviction and subject to the same driver's license revocation provision as for a third or subsequent DUI conviction within 10 years, which means that the person can petition for reinstatement of his driver's license five years after the date of his last conviction.
Patron: Wagner
Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credits; eligible neighborhood organizations. Provides that, in order to be eligible for an allocation of credits under the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program from the Department of Social Services, at least 40 percent of the neighborhood organization's revenues must be used to provide services to low-income persons.
Patron: Edwards
Taxation of tangible personal property. Requires localities to tax campers and other recreational vehicles as real property if they are used as a primary residence and do not travel more than 250 miles per year. The bill provides for refunds for personal property taxes paid in 2012 on such campers and other recreational vehicles in the amount of the difference between the personal property tax and the real property tax. The bill also reduces past-due personal property tax amounts owed for such campers and other recreational vehicles to the amount owed under the real property tax rate for 2012.
Patron: Ruff
Sale of state property. Authorizes the sale of the 9th Street Office Building and/or the property upon which the 8th Street Office Building was formerly located by the Commonwealth.
Patron: Garrett
Disposition of dead bodies; how expenses paid. Provides that the Commonwealth, not the county or city in which the decedent resided or in which the death occurred, shall pay the cost of disposition of a dead body if the claimant is financially unable to pay the reasonable costs of disposition.
Patron: Vogel
Board of equalization; Loudoun County. Authorizes the governing body of Loudoun County to appoint the members of its board of equalization rather than the appointment of such members by the circuit court.
Patron: Marsden
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System. Provides that the General Assembly may, by appropriate legislative action, add full-time employees of the Department of Military Affairs who provide fire protection services for facilities of the Virginia National Guard to the membership of the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System.
Patron: Wagner
Tax administration; awards for detection of tax underpayments. Creates a program for the payment of monetary rewards to individuals who provide information to the Tax Commissioner that leads to the successful collection of taxes that are owed by other individual or business taxpayers. Awards may only be given if the underpaying individual taxpayer's income exceeds $100,000 or the underpaying business taxpayer's income exceeds $500,000, and the amount in question exceeds $50,000.
Patron: Barker
Health insurance for local government employees. Gives local governments the option of having all their employees and retirees, as well as their dependents, eligible to participate in the state employee health insurance plan in lieu of the current state-administered local health insurance plan. The local government shall be responsible for whatever portion of the cost of such insurance that is not paid by the employee, except any portion that the General Assembly elects to pay.