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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2020 SESSION
Chair: John S. Edwards
Clerk: John Garrett, Alec Fischbein
Staff: Kristen Walsh, C. Quagliato
Date of Meeting: January 15, 2020
Time and Place: 1/2 hour after adjournment of Senate Sen Rm A Pocahontas Bldg
Updated to show Room location Added SB 814
Patron: Stanley
Suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of fines or costs. Repeals the requirement that the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs be suspended. The bill also removes a provision allowing the court to require a defendant to present a summary prepared by the Department of Motor Vehicles of the other courts in which the defendant also owes fines and costs. The bill requires the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to return or reinstate any person's driver's license that was suspended prior to July 1, 2020, solely for nonpayment of fines or costs. Such person does not have to pay a reinstatement fee.
Patron: Ebbin
Marijuana; decriminalization of simple marijuana possession; penalty. Decriminalizes simple marijuana possession and provides a civil penalty of no more than $50. Current law imposes a maximum fine of $500 and a maximum 30-day jail sentence for a first offense, and subsequent offenses are a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill provides that the suspended sentence and substance abuse screening provisions and driver's license suspension provisions apply only to criminal violations or to civil violations by a juvenile. The bill defines marijuana to include hashish oil. The bill raises the threshold amount of marijuana subject to the offense of distribution or possession with intent to distribute from one-half ounce to one ounce. The bill also allows a person to petition for expungement of convictions and deferred disposition dismissals for marijuana possession when all court costs and fines and orders of restitution have been paid. The bill contains technical amendments.
Patron: McClellan
Disorderly conduct in public places; school activities. Eliminates the Class 1 misdemeanor for disrupting willfully or while intoxicated, whether willfully or not, the operation of any school or any school activity conducted or sponsored by any school if the disruption (i) prevents or interferes with the orderly conduct of the operation or activity or (ii) has a direct tendency to cause acts of violence by the person or persons at whom, individually, the disruption is directed.
Patron: Ebbin
Suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of fines or costs. Repeals the requirement that the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs be suspended. The bill also removes a provision allowing the court to require a defendant to present a summary prepared by the Department of Motor Vehicles of the other courts in which the defendant also owes fines and costs. The bill requires the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to return or reinstate any person's driver's license that was suspended prior to July 1, 2020, solely for nonpayment of fines or costs. Such person does not have to pay a reinstatement fee.
Patron: Ebbin
Same-sex marriages; civil unions. Repeals the statutory prohibitions on same-sex marriages and civil unions or other arrangements between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges and obligations of marriage. These prohibitions are no longer valid due to the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (June 26, 2015).
Patron: Ebbin
Records of marriages; identification of race. Eliminates the requirement that the race of married parties be included in the marriage record filed with the State Registrar.
Patron: Edwards
Same-sex marriages; civil unions. Repeals the statutory prohibitions on same-sex marriages and civil unions or other arrangements between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges and obligations of marriage. These prohibitions are no longer valid due to the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (June 26, 2015).
Patron: DeSteph
Aggravated sexual battery by false representation or subterfuge; penalty. Provides that any person who sexually abuses another person through false representation or subterfuge that is part of a massage by a massage therapist, a medical procedure, or physical therapy is guilty of aggravated sexual battery if such abuse is intentional and without the consent of the complaining witness. The bill also eliminates the provision that sexual battery can be accomplished by ruse.
Patron: Spruill
Carrying a concealed handgun; consumption of alcohol in a public park; penalty. Prohibits a person who carries a concealed handgun onto the premises of any public park or other public space when alcoholic beverages have been approved for sale or consumption therein from consuming an alcoholic beverage while on the premises. A violation of this provision is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Patron: Hanger
Juvenile law-enforcement records; disclosures to school principals. Changes from discretionary to mandatory that the chief of police of a city or chief of police or sheriff of a county disclose to a school principal all instances where a juvenile at the principal's school is a suspect in or has been charged with a violent juvenile felony, an arson offense, or a concealed weapon offense and adds an offense that requires a juvenile intake officer to make a report with the school division superintendent to the list of such instances that must be disclosed to a school principal for the protection of the juvenile, his fellow students, and school personnel.
Patron: Marsden
Custody and visitation arrangements; foster care; adoption; use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil. Provides that the use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil by a parent in a custody or visitation case shall not serve as the sole basis for the denial or restriction of custody or visitation, if such parent has a written certification by a practitioner attesting to the benefit of such use. The bill further provides that such use by a foster parent shall not be the sole reason a child is removed from a foster parent and that such use by a prospective foster parent shall not be the sole reason to deny such prospective foster parent eligibility to become a foster parent. The bill also provides that such use by a petitioner for adoption shall not be the sole reason for the denial of a final order of adoption by a circuit court.
Patron: Suetterlein
Marriage records; divorce and annulment reports; identification of race. Eliminates the requirement that the race of married parties be included in marriage records, divorce reports, and annulment reports filed with the State Registrar. The bill also removes the requirement that the State Registrar include race data in the compilation and posting of marriage, divorce, and annulment data.
Patron: Surovell
Public defender offices; Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park and County of Prince William. Establishes a public defender office for the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park and the County of Prince William.
Patron: DeSteph
Capital murder; punishment. Provides that any person convicted of capital murder involving the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of more than one person as part of the same act or transaction or more than one person within a three-year period, and who was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense, shall be sentenced to no less than a mandatory minimum term of confinement for life.
Patron: Marsden
Juvenile offenders; parole. Provides that any person sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for a single felony offense or multiple felony offenses committed while that person was a juvenile and who has served at least 20 years of such sentence, and any person who has active sentences that total more than 20 years for a single felony offense or multiple felony offenses committed while that person was a juvenile and who has served at least 20 years of such sentences, shall be eligible for parole.
Patron: Favola
Best interests of the child; act of violence, force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner's child. Provides that any act of violence, force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner's child shall be considered by a court in determining the best interests of a child for the purposes of a custody or visitation arrangement.
Patron: Stuart
Driving under the influence. Provides that the provisions regarding driving or operating a motor vehicle, engine, or train while intoxicated and the provisions regarding operating a motor vehicle by a person under the age of 21 after illegally consuming alcohol shall not apply to any person driving or operating a motor vehicle on his own residential property or the curtilage thereof.
Patron: Stuart
Allowable purposes for restricted licenses. Adds travel to and from the offices of the Virginia Employment Commission for the purpose of seeking employment to the list of purposes for which a court may issue a restricted driver's license.
Patron: DeSteph
Issuance of warrants by magistrates. Provides that a magistrate may not issue an arrest warrant for a misdemeanor offense where the accused is a law-enforcement officer and the alleged offense arises out of the performance of his public duties upon the basis of a complaint by a person other than a law-enforcement officer or an animal control officer without prior authorization by the attorney for the Commonwealth or by a law-enforcement agency. The bill provides for the appointment of an attorney for the Commonwealth from outside the jurisdiction if a conflict of interest exists for the attorney for the Commonwealth having jurisdiction.
Patron: Favola
Hate crimes; gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation; penalty. Adds gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also adds gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the categories of hate crimes that are to be reported to the central repository of information regarding hate crimes maintained by the Virginia State Police. The bill provides that a person who is subjected to acts of intimidation or harassment, violence directed against his person, or vandalism to his real or personal property, where such acts are motivated by gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation, may bring a civil action to recover his damages. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Patron: Petersen
Maximum number of judges in each judicial district. Increases from 11 to 12 the maximum number of authorized general district court judgeships in the nineteenth judicial district. The Committee on District Courts recommended the additional judgeship in 2018.
Patron: Marsden
Carnal knowledge of an inmate, parolee, probationer, arrestee, detainee, or pretrial defendant or posttrial offender; local or state law-enforcement officer; penalty. Adds law-enforcement officers to those persons who are guilty of a Class 6 felony if they are in a position of authority over and carnally know without force, threat, or intimidation any inmate, parolee, probationer, arrestee, detainee, or pretrial or posttrial offender, including those in the custody of a private, local, or state law-enforcement agency. In addition, the bill adds arrestees to the list of those persons for whom it is unlawful for a person in such authority to commit the offense of carnal knowledge.
Patron: Surovell
No-fault divorce; gender-neutral terminology. Replaces the terms "husband" and "wife" with gender-neutral terms in the no-fault divorce statute.
Patron: Bell
Limitation on recovery; manufacture, distribution, or prescription of opioids. Eliminates the limitation on the total amount of (i) punitive damages against a manufacturer or distributor of opioids or (ii) damages for medical malpractice against a health care provider for the prescription of opioids in excess of the recommended dosage or quantity that can be awarded in an action arising out of injury to or death of a person as a result of such person's use of such opioids.
Patron: Deeds
Ignition interlock for first offense driving under the influence of drugs. Provides that a court of proper jurisdiction may, as a condition of a restricted license, prohibit an offender from operating a motor vehicle that is not equipped with a functioning, certified ignition interlock system for a first offense driving under the influence of drugs. Under current law, such prohibition is required to be ordered as a condition of a restricted license.
Patron: Deeds
Deferred dispositions; property crimes; larceny and receiving stolen goods. Provides that a court, upon such plea if the facts found by the court would justify a finding of guilt, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the accused, may defer further proceedings and place him on probation subject to terms and conditions for a first offense misdemeanor larceny provided such person has not previously been convicted of any felony or had a prior deferred disposition for the same offense. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Criminal Justice Conference.
Patron: Stanley
Deferred dispositions; property crimes; larceny and receiving stolen goods. Provides that a court, upon such plea if the facts found by the court would justify a finding of guilt, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the accused, may defer further proceedings and place him on probation subject to terms and conditions for a first offense misdemeanor larceny provided such person has not previously been convicted of any felony or had a prior deferred disposition for the same offense. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Criminal Justice Conference.
Patron: DeSteph
Abuse and neglect of children; contact with other parent; penalty. Provides that any parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the care of a child under the age of 18 whose willful act or omission interferes with such child's contact and relationship with the other parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the care of such child, including unreasonably denying the other parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the care of such child access to or visitation with such child, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Edwards
Suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of fines or costs. Removes the requirement that a court suspend the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs. The bill provides that the fine for any moving violation while operating a motor vehicle in a designated highway safety corridor shall be no more than $500 for any violation that is a traffic infraction and not less than $200 for any violation that is a criminal offense. The bill also repeals the Nonresident Violator Compact of 1977. The bill contains an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Morrissey
Suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of fines or costs. Repeals the requirement that the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs be suspended. The bill also removes a provision allowing the court to require a defendant to present a summary prepared by the Department of Motor Vehicles of the other courts in which the defendant also owes fines and costs. The bill requires the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to return or reinstate any person's driver's license that was suspended prior to July 1, 2020, solely for nonpayment of fines or costs. Such person does not have to pay a reinstatement fee.
Patron: Morrissey
Marijuana; decriminalization of simple marijuana possession; penalty. Decriminalizes simple marijuana possession and provides a civil penalty of no more than $50 for a first violation, $100 for a second violation, and $250 for a third or subsequent violation. Current law imposes a maximum fine of $500 and a maximum 30-day jail sentence for a first offense, and subsequent offenses are a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill provides that the suspended sentence/substance abuse screening provisions apply only to criminal violations or civil violations by a juvenile, and the driver's license suspension provisions apply only to criminal violations. A civil violation will be treated as a conviction for prohibitions on the purchase or transport of a handgun and disqualification for a concealed handgun permit.