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2010 SESSION
Reynolds (Chairman), Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt, Deeds, McEachin
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: February 25, 2010
Time and Place: 7:30 A.M., Senate Room A
Patron: Loupassi
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.
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Availability of presentence reports to counsel for convicted person. Provides that counsel representing a person who has been convicted of a crime for which a presentence report was prepared by a probation officer may be provided a copy of the report, without a court order, when the convicted person is pursuing a post-conviction remedy.
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Foreign search warrants to be honored. Provides that a Virginia corporation or other entity that provides electronic communication services or remote computing services to the general public, when properly served with a warrant and affidavit in support of the warrant, issued by a judicial officer or court of another state with jurisdiction over the matter, to produce a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service or the contents of electronic communications, or both, shall produce the record or other information as if that warrant had been issued by a Virginia court. This provision applies only to records relating to certain violent or sexual criminal offenses.
Patron: Loupassi
Restricted driving privilege for out-of-state drivers. Provides that when the driver of any motor vehicle not licensed to drive in Virginia, but who has a valid driver's license from another jurisdiction, is convicted of any violation for which license suspension and issuance of a restricted license is authorized, the court may issue a restricted driving privilege in Virginia upon the same conditions as if the person held a valid Virginia license.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Impeding hunting. Makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor for any person to knowingly and intentionally encourage or enable a violation of the baiting law by putting out bait or salt in a place used or occupied by hunters.
Patron: Iaquinto
Notice to Commonwealth of expert testimony in sentencing phase of capital murder trial. Provides that in any case in which a defendant charged with capital murder intends, in the event of conviction, to present testimony of an expert witness to support a claim in mitigation relating to the defendant's history, character or mental condition, he or his attorney shall give notice in writing to the attorney for the Commonwealth, at least 60 days (currently 21 days) before trial, of his intention to present such testimony.
Patron: Landes
Information entered into VCIN. Provides that within 72 hours following the receipt of a written statement issued by a parole officer authorizing the arrest of a person who has violated the provisions of his post-release supervision or probation, the person's name and other appropriate information required by the Department of State Police shall be entered into the information systems known as the Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN). The information will be deemed a warrant authorizing the arrest of the person anywhere in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Miller, J.H.
Gang-free zones; penalties. Expands current "gang-free school zones" to the broader "gang-free zones" and includes any publicly owned or operated community center or recreational center. Engaging in criminal street gang activity in a gang-free zone is a Class 5 or 6 felony and may include a two-year mandatory minimum sentence, depending upon other aggravators.
Patron: Miller, J.H.
Using transportation district trains without a valid ticket. Rewrites the code section that punishes unlawfully riding on a transportation district train. The bill punishes failure or refusal to pay the posted fare, or failure to properly validate a train ticket, as a $100 civil penalty. The bill punishes use of a validated ticket outside of the zone of the ticketed ride as a $100 civil penalty. The bill punishes use of a fraudulent or counterfeit ticket as a Class 2 misdemeanor. The bill limits the amount of recoverable costs to the same amount as the maximum fine.
Patron: Cleaveland
Impoundment of vehicle for driving while license suspended. Includes a violation of § 18.2-272 (Class 1 misdemeanor to drive on a suspended license when suspended for driving for DUI or a DUI-related crime) in the section of the code (§ 46.2-301) that provides that a motor vehicle impounded or immobilized by the police following an arrest for driving on a suspended license, when suspended for DUI or a DUI-related crime, may be impounded or immobilized for an additional 90 days by the court upon conviction of that offense.
Patron: Cleaveland
Consecutive license suspensions for DUI. Provides that any suspension of driving privilege for driving while intoxicated shall run consecutively with any other court-ordered period of suspension for driving while intoxicated or for underage driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.02 percent or more. Currently, suspensions ordered for failure to submit to a blood or breath test run consecutively with the DUI suspension.
Patron: Cline
Courts not of record; delinquent children; loss of driving privileges for alcohol, firearm, and drug offenses; truancy. Eliminates the authority of the court to give a restricted driver's permit, for travel to and from school when school-provided transportation is available, to a child who has lost his driving privilege for an alcohol, firearm, or drug offense, or truancy.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Exception to confidentiality of juvenile records; fugitives and escapees. Allows for the release of identifying information of a juvenile who is a fugitive from justice or an escapee. Currently, only juveniles charged with or convicted of certain serious offenses (e.g., murder, rape, robbery) may have identifying information released once they become a fugitive or escapee.
Patron: Nutter
Driving under the influence; persons under age 21. Provides that it is unlawful for any person under the age of 21 to operate any motor vehicle when the person's blood alcohol content is 0.02 percent or more. Currently such conduct is unlawful only if the person illegally consumed the alcohol.
Patron: Gilbert
Juvenile records; gang information; exceptions to confidentiality. Places an affirmative duty on the Department of Juvenile Justice to provide information to law-enforcement that may aid in initiating or furthering an investigation of a criminal street gang. The bill also requires, rather than allows, the Department or locally operated court services unit to release to law enforcement information on a juvenile's criminal street gang involvement and the criminal street gang-related activity of others and to include the identity of or identifying information of the juvenile. Locally designated gang coordinators and task forces are added as authorized recipients of such information. The bill incorporates HB 254 and HB 255.
Patron: Albo
Computer trespass; penalty. Expands the crime of computer trespass to include the use of video and image capture software or hardware (screenshots) in addition to keystroke loggers. The provision does not apply to certain Internet, software, and hardware providers that provide network and data security services, technical assistance, or network management.
Patron: Greason
Electronic communication service providers; obtaining records. Authorizes the disclosure of the records of providers of electronic communication service or remote computing service if the court orders disclosure for an investigation of a missing child, senior adult or incapacitated person. Under current law the court may order disclosure only if the records are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.
Patron: Iaquinto
Bail bondsman to receive criminal history information. Provides that if a judicial officer sets a secured bond and the person engages the services of a licensed bail bondsman, the magistrate executing recognizance for the accused shall provide the bondsman with a copy of the person's Virginia criminal history record, if applicable, to be used by the bondsman only to determine appropriate conditions to impose upon the accused upon his release. The bondsman may review the record on the premises only and must promptly return it to the magistrate.
Patron: Morgan
Littering; cigarette butts. Prohibits disposal of cigarettes or any portion thereof on public property. Any person convicted of violation shall be subject to a civil penalty of $75. However, in lieu of appearing in court, the violator may mail or personally deliver payment of $75 to the clerk of the court.
Patron: Janis
Interpreters for non-English-speaking persons; court costs. Provides that the costs of an interpreter for non-English speaking persons will be assessed as court costs if the defendant is found guilty. Under current law the court has discretion in assessing costs and may do so only under certain limited conditions.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Public disclosure of personal information; law-enforcement officers. Prohibits a state or local agency from publicly posting or displaying on the Internet the home address or personal telephone numbers of a law-enforcement officer if the officer has made a written demand that such information not be disclosed. The written demand must include a copy of a court order authorizing the state or locality to remove the information.