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2021 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Judiciary

Chair: John S. Edwards

Clerk: John Garrett, Alec Fischbein
Staff: Kristen Walsh, C. Quagliato
Date of Meeting: January 25, 2021
Time and Place: 8 AM West Comm. Rm Science Museum Register to speak @ GA website
https://virginia-senate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3

S.B. 1113

Patron: Spruill

Communicating threats of death or bodily injury to a person at any place of assembly, any building or other structure, or any means of transportation; penalties. Provides that any person 18 years of age or older who either (i) communicates to another by any means any threat to bomb, burn, destroy, shoot, stab, or in any other manner cause death or bodily injury to persons at any place of assembly, any building or other structure, or any means of mass transportation or (ii) communicates to another by any means information, knowing the same to be false, about any plan to bomb, burn, destroy, shoot, stab, or in any other manner cause death or bodily injury to persons at any place of assembly, any building or other structure, or any means of mass transportation and makes either such communication with the intent to (a) intimidate a civilian population at large, (b) influence the conduct or activities of the government of the United States or any state or local government through intimidation, (c) compel the emergency evacuation of any place of assembly, any building or other structure, or any means of mass transportation through intimidation, or (d) place any person in reasonable apprehension of death or bodily injury through intimidation is guilty of a Class 5 felony. The bill provides that any person younger than 18 years of age who commits such offense is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

S.B. 1206

Patron: Barker

Confidentiality of juvenile court records; exceptions. Provides that juvenile case files shall be open for inspection by (i) the Department of Social Services or any local department of social services that is providing services or care for, or has accepted a referral for investigation and the provision of services pursuant to a request for relief of custody regarding, a juvenile who is the subject of the record for (a) a purpose relevant to the provision of the services or care or (b) the purpose of conducting an investigation or family assessment of child abuse or neglect involving the juvenile who is the subject of the record and (ii) the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services or any local community services board that is providing treatment, services, or care for a juvenile who is the subject of the record for a purpose relevant to the provision of the treatment, services, or care.

S.B. 1226

Patron: Boysko

Compensation Board determining staffing and salaries for an attorney for the Commonwealth. Provides that the Compensation Board shall consider workload totals comprehensively, including the use of diversion programs and specialty dockets, when determining staffing and funding levels for an attorney for the Commonwealth and the office.

S.B. 1248

Patron: Deeds

Juveniles; competency evaluation; receipt of court order. Requires the appointed evaluator or the director of the community services board, behavioral health authority, or hospital to acknowledge receipt of the court order requiring a competency evaluation to be performed to the clerk of the court on a form developed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia as soon as practicable but no later than the close of business on the next business day following receipt of the court order.

S.B. 1250

Patron: Deeds

Criminal history record information check required for firearm rentals; penalty. Provides that for the purposes of conducting a criminal history record information check for a firearm transfer, the term "rent" includes a temporary change in dominion or control of a firearm for use at or on the premises of a dealer's business location in exchange for money or other consideration. Under current federal law, the rental of a firearm for use on a dealer's business premises is not considered to be a sale, disposition, or delivery of the firearm; therefore, such rental would not allow for a National Instant Criminal Background Check System check to be performed. The bill would allow the Virginia State Police to conduct a Virginia state criminal history record information check instead.

S.B. 1261

Patron: Edwards

Court of Appeals; jurisdiction; number of judges. Expands the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals of Virginia by providing for an appeal of right in every civil case and provides that the granting of further appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia shall be within the discretion of the Supreme Court. The bill provides for an appeal of right in criminal cases by a defendant, but leaves unchanged the current requirement that in criminal cases the Commonwealth must petition the Court of Appeals for granting of an appeal. The bill increases from 11 to 17 the number of judges on the Court of Appeals. The bill also (i) provides jurisdiction to the Court of Appeals over interlocutory appeals and petitions for review of injunctions; (ii) allows for oral arguments to be dispensed with if the panel of judges makes a unanimous decision that the appeal is frivolous or that the dispositive issues on appeal have already been authoritatively decided; (iii) creates a process by which the Attorney General will be notified of any criminal appeal and has the opportunity to intervene as counsel of record by filing a notice of appearance, and allows the Commonwealth's attorney to be counsel of record provided the Attorney General has not filed such notice of appearance; (iv) eliminates the requirement for an appeal bond in criminal appeals; (v) requires the clerk of the circuit court to prepare a transcript of any trial for which an appeal is noticed to him; and (vi) requires an expedited review of appeals of permanent protective orders and of bond validation proceedings.

S.B. 1262

Patron: Morrissey

Restricted permit; prepayment of fines and costs. Provides that any person who is otherwise eligible to receive a restricted permit to operate a motor vehicle shall not be required to pay in full his fines and costs before being issued such restricted permit.

S.B. 1264

Patron: Morrissey

Expungement of emergency and preliminary protective orders. Provides that a person against whom an emergency or preliminary protective order has been issued may petition to have police and court records relating to such order expunged if the order expires, is dissolved by the issuing court, or if a hearing for the issuance of a permanent protective order is scheduled or held and such permanent protective order is subsequently not issued.

S.B. 1391

Patron: Lucas

Pretrial data collection. Requires the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission to collect and disseminate, on an annual basis, statewide and locality-level data related to adults charged with criminal offenses punishable by confinement in jail or a term of imprisonment. The bill provides that any personal or case identifying information within the data shall not be subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and shall not be made publicly available. The bill does not require that the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission submit such annual report prior to December 1, 2022. Additionally, the bill requires the Virginia State Crime Commission to provide the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission with the final dataset of all adults charged with a criminal offense punishable by confinement in jail or a term of imprisonment as of October 2017 and that the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission make such statewide and locality-level data publicly available on a website established and maintained by the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission as (i) an electronic dataset, excluding any personal and case identifying information, that may be downloaded by members of the public and (ii) an electronic interactive data dashboard tool that displays aggregated data based on characteristics or indicators selected by the user, by October 1, 2021. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.

S.B. 1400

Patron: Pillion

Board of Wildlife Resources; quitclaim and conveyance of easement; Tazewell County. Authorizes the Board of Wildlife Resources to quitclaim any interest in a parcel of land and convey a right-of-way easement to the Valerie H. MacDowell Trust. The quitclaim is a result of a boundary line correction of an acquisition by the Board and applies to an unimproved parcel of land containing about 13.6 acres on the watershed of Little Tumbling Creek. The easement, which will follow an existing road and bridge across a portion of the Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area, will allow ingress and egress to the MacDowell Trust property from State Route 607. The MacDowell Trust shall be solely responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the easement.

S.B. 1442

Patron: Morrissey

Public defender offices; County of Chesterfield. Establishes a public defender office for the County of Chesterfield.

S.B. 1443

Patron: Edwards

Elimination of mandatory minimum sentences; modification of sentence to mandatory minimum term of confinement for felony offenses. Eliminates all mandatory minimum sentences of confinement from the Code of Virginia. The bill also provides a petition process for a person who was convicted or adjudicated delinquent of a felony offense committed prior to July 1, 2021, except for a Class 1 felony or any felony that was punishable by a mandatory minimum term of confinement for life, and sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of confinement for such felony offense and who remains incarcerated in a state or local correctional facility serving the mandatory minimum term of confinement for such felony offense to petition the circuit court that entered the original judgment or order to (i) suspend the unserved portion of such mandatory minimum sentence, (ii) place such person on probation for such time as the court shall determine, or (iii) otherwise modify the sentence imposed. The bill provides that such petition shall be filed by July 1, 2024. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.

S.B. 1454

Patron: Ruff

Evidence of mental competence; medical scans of brain. Provides that in any proceeding where mental competence or mental impairment is at issue, the court shall accept a properly authenticated computed tomography (CT) scan, computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan that demonstrates that the subject of such scan or image has a normal and uninjured brain as proof of competency and lack of impairment.