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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 21, 2018
Time and Place: 15 minutes after Adjournment Senate, Senate Room A Pocahontas Bld

H.B. 274

Patron: Ward

Informal truancy plans. Provides that a student may have up to three discretionary diversions for truancy so long as the immediately previous diversion occurred at least three calendar years prior to the current diversion.

H.B. 303

Patron: Watts

Physical evidence recovery kits; submission to Department of Forensic Science. Adds as an exception to the requirement that a law-enforcement agency that receives a physical evidence recovery kit submit such kit to the Department for Forensic Science for analysis within 60 days of receipt the circumstance of another law-enforcement agency having taken over responsibility for the investigation related to such kit.

H.B. 304

Patron: Watts

Certain fraud crimes; multi-jurisdiction grand jury; Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Adds the offenses of obtaining money by false pretense, financial exploitation of mentally incapacitated persons, and construction fraud to the criminal violations that a multi-jurisdiction grand jury may investigate and to prohibited practices under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.).

H.B. 366

Patron: Rush

Restoration of firearms rights; report to State Police. Provides a mechanism for reporting to the Department of State Police when a circuit court restores a felon's right to possess, transport, and carry a firearm, ammunition for a firearm, or a stun weapon. The bill provides that if a court enters an order restoring a felon's right, the order shall contain the felon's name and date of birth and the clerk of the court shall certify and forward the restoration order to the Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE). The bill provides that the Department of State Police, upon receipt of the restoration order, shall enter the felon's name and description in the CCRE so that law-enforcement personnel accessing the CCRE will be aware of the order's existence. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2019.

H.B. 525

Patron: Brewer

Carnal knowledge of pretrial or posttrial offender; bail bondsmen; penalty. Increases to a Class 6 felony from a Class 1 misdemeanor the penalty for an owner or employee of a bail bond company that posted bond for a person to carnally know such person if the owner or employee has the authority to revoke the person's bond.

H.B. 661

Patron: Murphy

First offense assault and battery against a family or household member; enhanced penalty. Provides that the deferral and dismissal of a first offense of assault and battery against a family or household member will be treated as a prior conviction for the purpose of determining whether a person is eligible for the enhanced Class 6 felony penalty for assault and battery against a family or household member, which applies on the basis of a person's prior convictions.

H.B. 976

Patron: Guzman

Compensation for wrongful incarceration for a felony conviction. Clarifies the process by which a person who has been awarded compensation for wrongful incarceration requests the payment of a transition assistance grant of $15,000 from the Criminal Fund. The bill provides that such grant shall be disbursed to such person within 30 days of receipt of a written request for disbursement by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Current law does not specify the process by which the person wrongfully incarcerated requests and receives such grant.

H.B. 1033

Patron: Price

Deemed consent to testing of bodily fluids. Allows a magistrate or a general district court to issue an order requiring a person to provide a blood specimen for testing for human immunodeficiency virus or the hepatitis B or C virus when exposure to bodily fluids occurs between a person and any health care provider, person employed by or under the direction and control of a health care provider, law-enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical services personnel, person employed by a public safety agency, or school board employee and the person whose blood specimen is sought refuses to consent to providing such specimen. Currently, only the general district court may issue such order. The bill allows a testing order to be issued based on a finding that there is probable cause to believe that exposure has occurred. Currently, there must be a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that exposure has occurred.

H.B. 1055

Patron: Herring

Sentencing guidelines; written explanation. Provides that the report of a judge's judicial performance evaluation, which is transmitted to the General Assembly, shall include the number of cases in which such judge did not file a written explanation of any departure from the sentencing guidelines as required by law. The bill provides that the person sentenced may seek a writ of mandamus to enforce the requirement that the court file such a written explanation.

H.B. 1469

Patron: Hugo

Felony homicide; certain drug offenses; penalty. Provides that a person is guilty of felony homicide, which constitutes second degree murder and is punishable by confinement of not less than five nor more than 40 years, if the underlying felonious act that resulted in the killing of another involved the manufacture, sale, gift, or distribution of a Schedule I or II controlled substance to another and (i) such other person's death results from his use of the controlled substance and (ii) the controlled substance is the proximate cause of his death. The bill also provides that venue for a prosecution of this crime shall lie in the locality where the underlying felony occurred, where the use of the controlled substance occurred, or where death occurred. This bill serves to overrule the Court of Appeals of Virginia decision in Woodard v. Commonwealth, 61 Va. App. 567, 739 S.E.2d 220 (2013), aff'd, 287 Va. 276, 754 S.E.2d 309 (2014).

H.B. 1491

Patron: Ransone

Marine Resources Commission; conveyance of easement and rights-of-way; Rappahannock River. Authorizes the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to convey to Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion Virginia Power) an easement and rights-of-way needed for constructing and maintaining an underground electric transmission line across the Rappahannock River in Middlesex and Lancaster Counties. The bill provides that none of the right-of-way property that lies within the Baylor Survey shall be considered part of the natural oyster beds, rocks, and shoals of the Commonwealth.

H.B. 1516

Patron: Watts

Prostitution-related crimes; minors; penalties. Increases to a Class 6 felony from a Class 1 misdemeanor the penalties for the following crimes if a minor is involved: (i) keeping, residing in, or visiting a bawdy place; (ii) aiding prostitution; and (iii) using vehicles to promote prostitution. The bill also adds felony violations of these offenses to (a) the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, (b) the definition of violent felony for the purposes of the sentencing guidelines, (c) the list of predicate criminal acts for street gangs, (d) the list of offenses that may constitute racketeering under the Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, and (e) the offenses that may be investigated by a multi-jurisdiction grand jury. The bill also makes applicable to all persons, regardless of the gender of the victim, the crimes of (1) assisting or aiding in the abduction of or threatening to abduct a female under 16 years of age for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution and (2) placing or leaving one's wife in a bawdy place.