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2010 SESSION
HB 1 Electronic mail, unsolicited commercial; narrows scope of spam statute, penalty.
Introduced by: G. Manoli Loupassi | all patrons ... notes | add to my profiles
SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:
Unsolicited commercial electronic mail (spam); penalty. Narrows the scope of the existing spam statute to cover only those emails that constitute unsolicited commercial electronic mail (spam). Commercial electronic mail is defined in the bill as electronic mail, the primary purpose of which is the advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service. Spam is defined as a subset of commercial mail that is unsolicited. The definition of spam excludes emails that are transmitted by a sender to a person with whom the sender has an existing business or personal relationship.
Any person who (i) falsifies or forges the transmission or routing information of spam or (ii) knowingly sells, gives, or distributes software designed to facilitate the transmission of spam is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The penalty for sending spam rises to a Class 6 felony if the person sends a certain volume of spam in a given time period or generates a certain amount of revenue from a spam transmission.
This bill corrects a constitutional infirmity identified in the ruling of the Virginia Supreme Court in Jaynes v. Commonwealth, 276 Va. 443 (2008). In its opinion the Supreme Court held that Virginia Code § 18.2-152.3:1 (anti-spam statute) is unconstitutionally overbroad on its face because it prohibits the anonymous transmission of all unsolicited bulk emails, including those containing political, religious, or other speech protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
FULL TEXT
- 11/16/09 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/10 10100110D pdf | impact statements
- 02/10/10 House: Committee substitute printed 10100741D-H1 pdf | impact statement
- 02/15/10 House: Printed as engrossed 10100741D-EH1 pdf | impact statement
- 03/12/10 House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1ER) pdf | impact statement
- 04/11/10 Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0489) pdf
AMENDMENTS
HISTORY
- 11/16/09 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/10 10100110D
- 11/16/09 House: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
- 01/28/10 House: Assigned Courts sub: #1 Criminal
- 02/03/10 House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (6-Y 0-N)
- 02/10/10 House: Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N)
- 02/10/10 House: Committee substitute printed 10100741D-H1
- 02/12/10 House: Read first time
- 02/15/10 House: Read second time
- 02/15/10 House: Committee substitute agreed to 10100741D-H1
- 02/15/10 House: Amendments by Delegate Loupassi agreed to
- 02/15/10 House: Engrossed by House - committee substitute with amendments HB1EH1
- 02/15/10 House: Printed as engrossed 10100741D-EH1
- 02/16/10 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
- 02/16/10 House: VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (99-Y 0-N)
- 02/17/10 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed
- 02/17/10 Senate: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
- 02/24/10 Senate: Assigned Courts sub: Criminal
- 03/01/10 Senate: Reported from Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N)
- 03/01/10 Senate: Rereferred to Finance
- 03/03/10 Senate: Reported from Finance (12-Y 0-N)
- 03/04/10 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- 03/05/10 Senate: Read third time
- 03/05/10 Senate: Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- 03/12/10 House: Enrolled
- 03/12/10 House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1ER)
- 03/12/10 House: Signed by Speaker
- 03/13/10 Senate: Signed by President
- 04/11/10 Governor: Approved by Governor-Chapter 489 (effective 7/1/10)
- 04/11/10 Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0489)