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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice

Chairman: Mark D. Obenshain

Clerk: Hobie Lehman
Staff: Kristen Walsh, C. Quagliato
Date of Meeting: February 19, 2018
Time and Place: 9 AM/ Senate Room A, Pocahontas Building
**Updated to change time to 9 AM**

H.B. 52

Patron: Hope

Competency and sanity evaluations; location of evaluation. Requires that evaluations to determine whether a person is competent to stand trial or to determine a person's sanity at the time of the commission of a criminal offense be conducted on an outpatient basis at a mental health facility or in jail unless the defendant is in the custody of the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Currently, such evaluations are to be conducted on an outpatient basis, but a court may order that a person be hospitalized instead if the court finds the services necessary to conduct an outpatient evaluation are not available or if the results of the outpatient evaluation indicate that it is necessary to hospitalize the person for further evaluation.

H.B. 88

Patron: Hope

Marijuana field test; evidence at trial. Provides that a law-enforcement officer is permitted to testify as to the results of any field test approved by the Department of Forensic Science regarding whether or not any plant material is marijuana in any trial for a misdemeanor offense of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Under current law, such testimony is allowed only in any trial for simple possession of marijuana.

H.B. 145

Patron: Carroll Foy

Search warrant for a tracking device; delivery of affidavit. Provides that an affidavit for a search warrant authorizing use of a tracking device delivered in person may be done by a designee or agent of the judicial officer. Current law allows in-person delivery by the judicial officer only. Current law provisions allowing the affidavit to be mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested; or delivered by electronically transmitted facsimile process or by use of filing and security procedures as defined in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act for transmitting signed documents are not changed. The introduced bill was a recommendation of the Judicial Council of Virginia.

H.B. 289

Patron: Collins

Effect of divorce proceedings; transfer of matters to juvenile and domestic relations district court. Provides that after the entry of a decree of divorce a vinculo matrimonii the circuit court shall not (i) transfer a case for modification to the juvenile and domestic relations district court in the absence of a motion by either party or (ii) require a provision for transfer of matters for modification to the juvenile and domestic relations district court as a condition of entry of a decree of divorce a vinculo matrimonii. The bill modifies the provision allowing transfer of any matters covered by the divorce decree to a juvenile and domestic relations district court to add transfer to any circuit court that constitutes a more appropriate forum.

H.B. 292

Patron: Collins

Reports to school division superintendents; abduction. Adds abduction to the list of offenses that are reported to school division superintendents by a juvenile intake officer when a petition is filed alleging a student committed such offense. The bill also adds abduction and acts of violence by mobs to the list of offenses reported to school division superintendents by a law-enforcement officer when a student who is 18 years of age or older is arrested for committing such an offense; acts of violence by mobs is already on the list reported by an intake officer for a minor student. The bill also adds abduction on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity to the list of incidents to be reported to school division superintendents and principals.

H.B. 481

Patron: Bell, Robert B.

Deferral of jury service; students. Allows a court to defer a person's jury service to a later term of court if such person is enrolled as a full-time student and is attending classes at an accredited public or private institution of higher education.

H.B. 483

Patron: Bell, Robert B.

Restitution; collection; Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund. Adds to the duties of the Workers' Compensation Commission (the Commission) in its role as administrator of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund (Fund) the obligation to (i) identify and locate victims for whom restitution owed to such victims has been deposited into the Fund and (ii) collect and disburse such unclaimed restitution to such victims. The bill directs the Commission to include in its annual report information on all unclaimed restitution that it disburses. The bill provides that clerks shall deposit into the Fund by November 1 of each year restitution collected for victims who can no longer be identified or located, or state that there is no such restitution to be deposited. The bill requires that clerks record the receipt of restitution payments in the automated information system operated by the Supreme Court or a system established and maintained by a circuit court. The bill also provides that the restitution form used by the court shall include the victim's contact information, including address, telephone number, and email address.

H.B. 484

Patron: Bell, Robert B.

Restitution; probation. Establishes procedures to be used by courts to monitor the payment of restitution by defendants. The bill requires that a probation agency ordered to monitor the restitution payments of a defendant placed on supervised probation notify the court and the attorney for the Commonwealth of the amount of unsatisfied restitution (i) 30 days prior to the defendant's release from supervision or (ii) if the agency requests that the defendant be released from supervision, at the time the agency submits its request for the defendant's release. The bill requires that the court conduct a hearing prior to the defendant's release from supervision to review the defendant's compliance with the restitution order. The bill also requires that in the case of a defendant who was not placed on supervised probation, the court must schedule a hearing within two years of the date of the restitution order to review the defendant's compliance with the restitution order. The bill requires that the court continue to conduct hearings to monitor the defendant's compliance with the restitution order for a period of 10 years from the date of the first review hearing or the period of probation, whichever is longer. The bill provides that a court may discontinue hearings to review a defendant's compliance with the restitution order if the court determines that the defendant is unable to pay and will remain unable to pay restitution for the duration of the review period. The bill also sets forth the remedies, available to the court, including contempt, in the case of a defendant who fails to comply with a restitution order.

H.B. 634

Patron: Hurst

Two-way video testimony; reports by Chief Medical Examiner. Provides that any testimony offered by either party in a preliminary hearing or sentencing hearing, or offered by the accused in any hearing other than a trial, from the Chief Medical Examiner, his assistants, or medical examiners who performed a medicolegal investigation of death or postmortem examination may be presented by two-way video conferencing. The bill provides that any decision to purchase a two-way electronic video and audio communication system is at the discretion of the locality.

H.B. 669

Patron: Kilgore

Property conveyance; Department of Conservation and Recreation; Natural Tunnel State Park. Authorizes the Department of Conservation and Recreation to accept, without consideration, certain real property in Scott County measuring approximately 1.85 acres in total.

H.B. 745

Patron: Leftwich

Adultery; civil penalty. Reduces the penalty for adultery from a Class 4 misdemeanor to a civil penalty of not more than $250.

H.B. 1249

Patron: Toscano

DNA analysis upon conviction of certain misdemeanors. The bill adds misdemeanor violations of §§ 18.2-57 (assault and battery), 18.2-57.2 (assault and battery against a family or household member), and 18.2-119 (trespass) to the list of offenses for which an adult convicted of such offense must have a sample of his blood, saliva, or tissue taken for DNA analysis.

H.B. 1336

Patron: Habeeb

Spoliation of evidence; jury instruction. Provides that if a party has possession, custody, or control of evidence, as specified in the bill, that such party knows or reasonably should know may be material to pending or probable litigation, and such evidence is disposed of, altered, concealed, destroyed, or not preserved by such party, a court may instruct that a jury may infer that, if such evidence had been introduced, such evidence would be detrimental to the case of such party. The bill further provides that the party seeking such instruction need not show that the disposal of, alteration of, concealing of, or failure to preserve such evidence was undertaken intentionally or in bad faith in order for such instruction to be given. The bill serves to overrule a portion of the Supreme Court of Virginia's decision in Emerald Point, LLC v. Hawkins, 2017 Va. Lexis 197.

S.B. 994

Patrons: Obenshain, Howell

Restitution; probation. Establishes procedures to be used by courts to monitor the payment of restitution by defendants. The bill requires that a probation agency ordered to monitor the restitution payments of a defendant placed on supervised probation notify the court and the attorney for the Commonwealth of the amount of unsatisfied restitution (i) 60 days prior to the defendant's release from supervision or (ii) if the agency requests that the defendant be released from supervision, at the time the agency submits its request for the defendant's release. The bill requires that the court conduct a hearing prior to the defendant's release from supervision to review the defendant's compliance with the restitution order. The bill also requires that in the case of a defendant who was not placed on supervised probation, the court must schedule a hearing within two years of the date of the restitution order or release from incarceration to review the defendant's compliance with the restitution order. The bill requires that the court continue to conduct hearings to monitor a defendant's compliance with the restitution order for a period of 10 years from the date of the first review hearing or the period of probation, whichever is longer. The bill provides that a court may discontinue hearings to review a defendant's compliance with the restitution order if the court determines that the defendant is unable to pay and will remain unable to pay restitution for the duration of the review period. The bill also sets forth the remedies available to the court, including contempt, in the case of a defendant who fails to comply with a restitution order.