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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2020 SESSION
Chair: John S. Edwards
Clerk: John Garrett, Alec Fischbein
Staff: Kristen Walsh, C. Quagliato
Date of Meeting: February 12, 2020
Time and Place: 1/2 hour after adjournment of Senate Sen Room A Pocahontas Bldg
Patron: Lindsey
Parole; exception to limitation on the application of parole statutes. Provides that a person is entitled to parole if (i) such person was sentenced by a jury prior to the date of the Supreme Court of Virginia decision in Fishback v. Commonwealth, 260 Va. 104 (June 9, 2000), in which the Court held that a jury should be instructed on the fact that parole has been abolished, for a noncapital felony committed on or after the abolition of parole going into effect (on January 1, 1995) and (ii) the jury was not instructed on the abolition of parole.
Patron: Lindsey
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 25 years of such sentence and any person who has active sentences that total more than 25 years for a single felony offense or multiple felony offenses committed while that person was a juvenile and who has served at least 25 years of such sentences shall be eligible for parole.
Patron: Collins
Adults sentenced for juvenile offenses; good conduct credit. Provides that an adult sentenced for a juvenile offense can earn good conduct credit at the rate of one day for each one day served, including all days served while confined in jail or secured detention prior to conviction and sentencing, in which the adult has not violated the written rules and regulations of the jail.
Patron: Miyares
Court of Appeals; use of moot courtroom of accredited law schools. Provides that upon proper agreement with the applicable authorities the Court of Appeals may use the moot courtroom of any accredited law school located in the Commonwealth for the holding of court and for its ancillary functions. Current law specifies that the Court may use state and federal facilities but not private law schools in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Miyares
Establishment of the Virginia Missing Child with Autism Alert Program. Creates a program for local, regional, or statewide notification of a missing child with autism. The bill defines a missing child with autism as a child (i) whose whereabouts are unknown; (ii) who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder; (iii) who is 17 years of age or younger or is currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Commonwealth, regardless of age; and (iv) whose disappearance poses a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the child and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Virginia State Police.
Patron: Lindsey
Voir dire examination of persons called as jurors; criminal case. Allows the court and counsel for either party in a criminal case to (i) ask potential jurors any relevant question to ascertain whether the juror can sit impartially in either the guilt or sentencing phase of the case and (ii) inform any potential juror as to the potential range of punishments to ascertain if the person or juror can sit impartially in the sentencing phase of the case.
Patron: Collins
Bail bondsman; deposit for surrender of principal for reasons other than principal's failure to appear. Provides that if a bail bondsman on a bond in a recognizance surrenders his principal for any reason other than the principal's failure to appear in any court, the bondsman shall deposit with the clerk of court or magistrate the greater of 10 percent of the amount of the bond or $50, which shall be made at such time the bondsman makes application for a capias. Under current law, such deposit is made by a bail bondsman on a bond in recognizance if he surrenders his principal for any reason other than a summons to show cause issued by the court for which the principal is to appear. The bill also replaces "principal" with "payer" in specifying whom deposited funds are returned to if the court finds that the surrender of the principal by the bondsman was unreasonable.
Patron: Collins
Guardians ad litem for children; certification of compliance with certain standards. Requires guardians ad litem appointed to represent a child in a matter to conduct an investigation in compliance with certain standards. The bill requires a guardian ad litem to file with the court, along with any attorney representing a party or party proceeding pro se, a certification of the guardian ad litem's compliance with such standards, specifically addressing such standards requiring face-to-face contact with the child. The bill further requires the guardian ad litem to document the hours spent satisfying such face-to-face contact requirements and specifies that compensation for such contact shall be at the same rate as that for in-court service.
Patron: Krizek
Virginia State Police Electronic Summons System Fund. Creates the Virginia State Police Electronic Summons System Fund, which is funded by a $5 fee required by the bill to be assessed as court costs in each criminal or traffic case in which the Virginia State Police issued the summons, ticket, or citation. The bill directs that the Fund be used for the purposes of funding software, hardware, and associated equipment costs for the implementation and maintenance of an electronic summons system. Under current law, localities may charge a fee of up to $5 for each criminal or traffic case to be used for such purposes.
Patron: Mullin
Disorderly conduct; students. Provides that a student at any elementary or secondary school is not guilty of disorderly conduct in a public place if the disorderly conduct occurred on school property or a school bus.
Patron: Simon
Unrestorably incompetent defendant; competency report. Provides that in cases where a defendant's competency is primarily compromised due to an ongoing and irreversible medical condition and prior medical or educational records are available to support the diagnosis, a competency report may recommend that the court find the defendant unrestorably incompetent to stand trial, and the court may proceed with the disposition of the case based on such recommendation. Under current law, the defendant is required to undergo treatment to restore his competency before the court can find a defendant unrestorably incompetent to stand trial. The bill also provides that such person who is found unrestorably incompetent to stand trial shall be prohibited from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm.
Patron: Sullivan
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: Sullivan
Virginia State Police; reporting hate crimes. Includes within the definition of "hate crime" a criminal act committed against a person because of sexual orientation or gender identification and requires the reporting of the commission of such crime to the State Police.
Patron: Price
Payments of court fines and costs; community work in lieu of payment; during imprisonment. Allows courts to provide an option to any person upon whom a fine and costs have been imposed to discharge all or part of the fine or costs by earning credits for the performance of community service work during imprisonment. Under current law, credit may be earned only for the performance of community service work completed before or after imprisonment.
Patron: Hope
Circuit court clerk's fee; lodging of wills. Increases from $2 to $5 the fee that the circuit court clerk is required to charge for lodging, indexing, and preserving a will.
Patron: Hope
Fees collected by circuit court clerks for recording and indexing; use of fee in preserving permanent records of the circuit courts. Increases by $2 the fees for the recording and indexing of certain documents. The bill further increases from $1.50 to $3.50 the portion of the recording and indexing fee collected by circuit court clerks that is designated for use in preserving the permanent records of the circuit courts.
Patron: Hope
Definition of incapacitated person; particular diagnosis. Specifies that a particular diagnosis shall not alone be sufficient evidence that an individual is an incapacitated person within the meaning of the definition of incapacitated person.
Patron: Carroll Foy
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: Heretick
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act; disclosure of identifying information; pleading or affidavit. Clarifies that a hearing and written finding of the issue of the disclosure of certain identifying information of a child in a child custody proceeding shall be held and made by the court within 15 days of the filing of an affidavit that the health, safety, or liberty of a child would be jeopardized by disclosure of identifying information. Current law allows such filing to be made in the form of an affidavit or a pleading, but only applies the requirement that the court hear and decide the case within 15 days to pleadings.
Patron: Guzman
Juveniles; trial as adult. Increases from age 14 to age 16 the minimum age at which a juvenile must be tried as an adult in circuit court for murder or aggravated malicious wounding or for certain charges requiring notice of intent to try such juvenile as an adult by the attorney for the Commonwealth. In order to be tried as an adult in circuit court for charges that require notice of intent to proceed with trial as an adult by the attorney for the Commonwealth, the bill requires that (i) a report of the juvenile be prepared by probation services or other qualified agency and (ii) the attorney for the Commonwealth review such report prior to filing his notice of intent to proceed with a preliminary hearing for trial of such juvenile as an adult.
Patron: Hurst
Persons acquitted by reason of insanity; use of two-way electronic communications in proceedings. Permits hearings required for proceedings involving persons acquitted of a criminal offense by reason of insanity to be conducted using a two-way electronic video and audio communication system.
Patron: Mullin
Circumvention of ignition interlock systems; venue. Provides that the venue for the prosecution of a circumvention of the operation of an ignition interlock system that is identified by a local alcohol and safety action program through the use of an in-vehicle camera shall be the jurisdiction in which the order prohibiting a person from operating a motor vehicle that is not equipped with a functioning ignition interlock system was entered.
Patron: Reid
Post-adoption contact and communication agreements; involuntary termination of parental rights. Provides that a child's birth parent or parents for whom parental rights were involuntarily terminated may enter into a post-adoption contact and communication agreement with the child's pre-adoptive parent or parents.
Patron: Jones
Postrelease incarceration of felons sentenced for certain offenses. Clarifies that offenders who are convicted of knowingly failing to register or reregister with, or knowingly providing materially false information to, the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry are subject to added terms of postrelease incarceration. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council.
Patron: Roem
Returns of service; acceptance of copies of proofs of service. Provides that a photocopy, facsimile, or other copy of the original proof of service shall be accepted by the clerk's office as if it were an original proof of service for the purposes of complying with the return of service process to the clerk's office, provided that the submitter provides a statement that any such copy is a true copy of the original.
Patron: Mullin
Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury or disease. Provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant asbestos-related injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant asbestos-related injury or disease, and such subsequent diagnosis shall constitute a separate injury that shall accrue action when such diagnosis is first communicated to the person or his agent by a physician. The bill is intended to reverse Kiser v. A.W. Chesteron, 285 Va. 12 (2013).
Patron: Simon
Appeals of right in general district court; order or judgment altering prior final orders or judgments; separate notices of appeal. Provides that there shall be an appeal of right to a court of record from any order entered or judgment rendered in a general district court that alters, amends, overturns, or vacates any prior final order entered or judgment rendered on any issues previously adjudicated on the merits in the prior proceeding. The bill further provides that a party to an action in general district court may file a separate notice of appeal relating to any other final order or judgment entered in an action by filing a notice of appeal within the 10-day appeal of right time period, or within five business days after such notice of appeal is filed, whichever is later. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Jenkins
Saliva or tissue sample required for DNA analysis after arrest for a violent felony. Clarifies that the Department of Forensic Science may retain a DNA sample from a person who was arrested for a violent felony if such person was convicted of a misdemeanor offense that would otherwise require the sample to remain in the DNA data bank.
Patron: Levine
Best interests of the child; act of violence, force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner's child; history of child abuse. Provides that any act of violence, force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner's child or any history of child abuse shall be considered by a court in determining the best interests of a child for the purposes of a custody or visitation arrangement.
Patron: Lindsey
Grand larceny; threshold. Increases from $500 to $1,000 the threshold amount of money taken or value of goods or chattel taken at which the crime rises from petit larceny to grand larceny. The bill increases the threshold by the same amount for the classification of certain property crimes.
Patron: Adams, L.R.
Definition of criminal justice agency; Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. Specifies that the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission is a criminal justice agency.
Patron: Adams, L.R.
Custodial interrogations; recording. Provides that any law-enforcement officer shall, if practicable, make an audiovisual recording of any custodial interrogation of a person conducted in a place of detention. The bill provides that if an audiovisual recording is unable to be made, the law-enforcement officer shall make an audio recording of the custodial interrogation. The bill provides that the failure of a law-enforcement officer to make such a recording shall not affect the admissibility of the statements made during the custodial interrogation, but the court or jury may consider such failure in determining the weight given to such evidence. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Criminal Justice Conference.
Patron: Krizek
Fingerprints and photographs by police authorities; reports to the Central Criminal Records Exchange. Provides that all duly constituted police authorities having the power of arrest may take the fingerprints and photographs of persons who plead guilty or are found guilty for driving while intoxicated when charged by summons. The bill also provides that such summons information may be entered into the Virginia Criminal Information Network. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
Patron: Krizek
Fingerprints and photographs by police authorities. Provides that all duly constituted police authorities having the power of arrest may take the fingerprints and photographs of any person found in contempt or in violation of the terms or conditions of a suspended sentence or probation for a felony offense. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
Patron: Lopez
Inquiry and report of immigration status; persons charged with or convicted of certain crimes. Removes provisions requiring (i) jail officers to ascertain the citizenship of any inmate taken into custody at a jail, (ii) probation and parole officers to inquire as to the citizenship status of an individual convicted of a felony in circuit court and referred to such officers, and (iii) officers in charge of correctional facilities to inquire as to the citizenship of any person committed to a correctional facility, and therefore such information is not required to be reported to the Central Criminal Records Exchange of the Department of State Police. The bill also removes the mandatory duty of the clerk of a court committing a convicted alien to a correctional facility to furnish related court records to a United States immigration officer and the requirement that an intake officer report to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security any juvenile detained on an allegation that the juvenile, believed to be in the United States illegally, committed a violent felony.
Patron: Heretick
Authority of local government employees to issue summonses for violations of local ordinances. Permits localities to appoint and train local government employees to enforce local ordinances by issuing summonses for violations of ordinances that are within the purview of the employee's employment.
Patron: Bourne
Claim for attorney fees. Aligns the provision for a claim for attorney fees to be paid out of money or property under control of the court with Rule 3:25 of the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia by providing that the claim for such attorney fees shall be made in a complaint, petition, or other proceeding. The bill removes the provision that provides that such attorney fees may also be paid where the parties are notified in writing that application will be made to the court. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron: Leftwich
Signature defects on pleadings, motions, and other papers. Clarifies that any pleading, motion, or other paper that is not properly signed is defective and voidable. The bill further provides that failure to timely raise signature defects waives any challenge based on such a defect, and that a signature defect shall be cured within 21 days after it is brought to the attention of the pleader or movant, or the pleading, motion, or other paper that contains the signature defect shall be stricken.
Patron: Guy
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: Mugler
Fort Monroe Authority; civil actions in general district court. Authorizes the Fort Monroe Authority to prepare, execute, file, and have served certain documents in a civil proceeding in general district court without the intervention of an attorney.
Patron: Hope
Partition of property. Incorporates major provisions of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. The bill provides that in partition actions the court shall order an appraisal to determine fair market value of the property, unless the parties have agreed to the value of the property or to another valuation method. The bill also provides factors to be considered by the court when making an allotment of the property when there is a dispute among the parties. The bill further provides that if the court orders a sale of property in a partition action, the sale shall be conducted on the open market, unless the court finds that a sale by sealed bids or at auction would be more economically advantageous to the parties as a group. The bill outlines the procedure for such open-market sale.
Patron: Campbell, J.L.
Judicial assistants. Provides that a judicial assistant serving a circuit court judge and whose position is funded in whole or in part by a county or city shall serve at the pleasure and under the sole management and supervision of the presiding judge of the circuit court.