Courts not of Record Passed HB173 District court judges. Adds one general district court judge to the second district (Virginia Beach) and one new juvenile court judge in the third (Portsmouth), fourth (Norfolk) and thirteenth (Richmond) districts. Patron - Almand HB291 Protective orders. Allows a law-enforcement officer to petition for an extension of an emergency protective order for an additional 72-hour period on behalf of a person who is physically or mentally incapable of filing for a preliminary or permanent protective order (e.g., a person who is comatose). Patron - Clement HB511 Standby guardianship. Allows a parent who is seriously ill to designate, either by obtaining prior court approval or by a more informal written designation, a standby guardian. The other parent and specified family members are to be given notice of the appointment. The standby guardian will be authorized to act for the parent with respect to a minor child of the parent upon the occurrence of a "triggering event," which must be specified by the court or the parent (e.g., the parent's incompetence, or debilitation and consent). Provisions are included for reviewing continuation of an ongoing standby guardianship and for revoking or otherwise terminating the authority of the standby guardian. Responsibility is placed on the standby guardian to ensure that permanent arrangements for the care of the child are made when the parent is no longer able to do so. Patron - Deeds HB512 Courts not of record; exclusive jurisdiction of district court. Increases from $1,000 to $3,000 the amount in controversy for exclusive civil jurisdiction of general district courts. Tort Claims Act cases are excluded. The bill provides that the court may order a filing of a written bill of particulars upon the request of either party. This bill is identical to SB 540. Patron - Deeds HB519 Confinement of juveniles. Changes the number of hours a juvenile may be housed in a separate room in a jail or other adult detention facility to six hours before and after the court hearing. Currently, the juvenile may be held for a maximum of six hours. The bill includes an emergency clause. Patron - Armstrong HB530 Failure to pay fines and costs; license suspension. Expands application of the current law to clarify that when a check bounces or a credit card company refuses payment, the person has failed to pay and the license suspension provisions are invoked. Because the failure to pay under these circumstances occurs sometime after the conviction (e.g., when the check bounces), the person is to be given notice of the failure and of his opportunity to avoid the suspension by making payment in full by cash, cashier's check or certified check within 10 days of the date of the notice. The bill also specifically requires that persons who are authorized to make installment or deferred payments of fines, costs, etc., keep the court apprised of any change of address occurring during the period when payments will be made. This bill is recommended by the Committee on District Courts. Patron - Jones, J.C. HB583 Protective orders. Makes primarily technical changes in the provisions governing protective orders in cases of family abuse or stalking. The provision governing expiration of an emergency order is clarified to ensure that the order remains effective beyond 72 hours only if the court is not in session at that time, and continues to be effective until 5 p.m. of the next day that the issuing court is in session. Electronic transfer of information from the courts to VCIN is authorized, but not required. A reference to the provisions governing return of service by a private process service is added to the section on preliminary protective orders. Language is added to clarify that references in the statutes to service of a "copy" includes a facsimile copy. The definition of "law-enforcement officer" is amended to include auxiliary police officers having the power of arrest. The bill adds emergency protective orders issued in family abuse and stalking cases to the list of court-ordered prohibitions included in the criminal trespass statute. Finally, the bill includes authority for law-enforcement officers to make a warrantless arrest in cases of brandishing a firearm. Because brandishing is a misdemeanor, a warrantless arrest under current law would require that the offense be committed in the officer's presence. In domestic violence situations, this would rarely be the case. This bill is recommended by the Commission on Family Violence Prevention. Patron - Watts HB660 Juvenile Community Crime Control Act. Clarifies the required local funding level for operating costs under the Act to be at least equal to, rather than equal to, total 1995 expenditures for child care day placements and adds that funding shall not include placements made pursuant to § 2.1-757 (state pool of funds for troubled youth and family services). Patron - Jackson HB670 Regional juvenile detention commissions. Allows the Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Commission, serving parts of the Sixteenth Judicial District, the Highland Juvenile Detention Commission serving the Twenty-eighth District, and the Roanoke Valley Detention Commission which serves parts of the Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fifth Judicial Districts to borrow funds and issue revenue bonds as provided under § 16.1-318. Patron - Van Yahres HB728 Juvenile detention or residential care facilities commissions; appointment of alternate members. Allows appointment by localities of alternate members to such commissions. The alternate members may participate in all meetings of the commission and may vote in the absence of their respective principals. Patron - Dickinson HB888 Payments for children from other counties or cities in secure detention facilities. Provides that cost of capital construction debt service less any state reimbursement is included in the cost which a locality may charge another locality which places a child in its secure detention facility. Currently only the cost of feeding, clothing, caring for, and furnishing medicine and medical attention for such child may be charged. Patron - Clement HB940 Juveniles; mental health screening. Makes community services boards responsible for conducting mental health assessments of juveniles in secure facilities who are identified as needing such an assessment. The community services boards shall be reimbursed out of funds appropriated to the Department of Juvenile Justice, according to a compensation plan the Department is to develop. Patron - Dillard HB1041 Juvenile Community Crime Control Act; costs of maintenance of juveniles. Adjusts the maximum amount a program may charge other localities using the program to ensure that the daily rate charged by the localities operating the program meets, but does not exceed, the costs of providing services. Patron - Jackson HB1064 Curfew violations. Clarifies that juveniles who are found to have violated a curfew ordinance are subject to the dispositions available to the juvenile and domestic relations district court as those authorized for children in need of services (e.g., imposition of terms and conditions, order parent to participate in programs, order the child to perform community service, etc.). The bill also provides that the curfew imposed on minors by a local governing body shall not begin earlier than 10 p.m. nor last later than 6 a.m. Patron - Barlow HB1081 Placement of juveniles. Grants the Board of Juvenile Justice the authority to certify juvenile detention facilities located upon the site of an adult regional jail facility. Currently, that authority rests with the Department of Corrections. Patron - Kilgore HB1354 Small claims courts. Requires each general district court to create a small claims division by January 1, 1999. Actions to which the Commonwealth is a party under the Tort Claims Act will not be eligible for trial in small claims court. The measure also repeals the sunset provision applicable to the currently operational small claims courts. Patron - Dillard SB185 Juvenile records. Allows the Department of Juvenile Justice to obtain access to records electronically, if the record is maintained by the court in that form, and specifies that when so transferred those records become subject to the confidentiality provisions otherwise applicable to the Department's records. This bill is recommended by the Committee on District Courts. Patron - Gartlan SB276 Small claims courts. Allows Poquoson and York to establish a small claims court within their general district court. Patron - Williams SB364 Juvenile records; access. Allows Commonwealth's attorneys and probation officers to make copies of juvenile records for purposes of presentence reports and preparation of the guidelines worksheets. This bill is recommended by the Sentencing Commission. Patron - Gartlan SB388 Foster care; adoption; termination of parental rights; appeals. Specifies that protective orders may be issued, on motion, whether ex parte or sua sponte, in the course of proceedings pending before the court. If an ex parte preliminary protective order is issued, the court must include an affidavit or a summary of the allegations and findings in its order. In cases of abuse and neglect, the bill requires an adjudicatory hearing to be held prior to the court making its findings within 30 days of the date of the initial preliminary protective order hearing; currently the 30-day period runs from the date of the first preliminary removal hearing. As required by federal law, a provision is added stating that the health and safety of the child are the paramount concern during development and implementation of the foster care plan. The court is authorized to hear and decide a petition for termination of parental rights in the same proceeding in which a foster care plan is approved. Additional grounds for termination of parental rights are added. Termination of parental rights is authorized upon finding that a parent was convicted of murder or voluntary manslaughter or any felony attempt, conspiracy or solicitation to commit such offense, if the victim was a child of the parent or a child with whom the parent resided at the time the offense occurred or the other parent of the child. Termination is also authorized if the parent is convicted of felony sexual assault or felony assault or bodily wounding resulting in serious bodily injury if the victim was a child of the parent or a child with whom the parent resided at the time of the offense. A definition of bodily injury is added. The time frame for failing to maintain continuing contact with a child in foster care as a basis for terminating parental rights is reduced from 12 months to six months. Foster parents are entitled to notice of the proceedings without regard to the length of time the child has been with them. Residual parental rights may be terminated upon finding that such rights with respect to a sibling of the child have previously been involuntarily terminated. The local board or agency having authority to place a child for adoption following termination of parental rights is required to file a report with the court every six months until a final order of adoption is entered. Appeals of termination cases to the Court of Appeals are given priority on the court's docket. Finally, the bill clarifies that when an appeal is pending, the juvenile court retains jurisdiction to hear petitions involving foster care review and permanency planning hearings for children in foster care. The bill is recommended by the Judicial Council. Patron - Gartlan SB540 Courts not of record; exclusive jurisdiction of district court. Increases from $1,000 to $3,000 the amount in controversy for exclusive civil jurisdiction of general district courts. This change does not change jurisdictional amounts of the Tort Claims Act. This bill is identical to HB 512. Patron - Hanger Failed HB58 Jurisdictional limits of the district court in civil cases. Raises the limit of exclusive jurisdiction of district courts from $1,000 to $10,000 in ordinary civil matters and under the Tort Claims Act. The bill also raises the upper limit on concurrent jurisdiction (with the Circuit Court) on actions under the Tort Claims Act to $15,000 to match the limit for ordinary cases. (The upper limit was raised for ordinary cases during the 1997 Session, and became law as of July 1, 1997.) Incorporated in HB 512. Patron - McEachin HB70 Appeals from courts not of record in civil cases. Provides that the court to which an appeal of an interlocutory order is taken may, upon its ruling, remand the matter to the court not of record for further proceedings. The law is currently silent on this. Patron - McEachin HB358 Places for confinement of juveniles. Allows a separate juvenile detention facility to be located within any adult regional jail facility. Currently the juvenile facility may be on the same site with an adult facility constructed after 1994. On-going, regular use of such facilities is limited however to adult facilities approved for the purpose by the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Board of Corrections and only for specified localities. The localities must demonstrate to DJJ that they have consistently (for five years) exceeded capacity at their juvenile facilities and that they have made a financial commitment to expand capacity at their juvenile detention facilities. Patron - Rollison HB382 Substitute judges. Allows substitute judges to either reside in or have their principal office within the judicial district in which they are appointed. Currently substitutes, like full-time judges, must live within the judicial district. Patron - Joannou HB525 Delinquent juveniles; detention. Grants the court the authority to order the persons legally responsible for a juvenile's care to pay for the costs incurred for support and treatment during any period that the juvenile was in detention or shelter care prior to disposition. Patron - Armstrong HB832 Fingerprints and photographs of juveniles. Grants the court discretion to order the destruction of the fingerprints and photographs upon finding that the arrest of the juvenile was not supported by probable cause. Under current law, the destruction of all photographs and fingerprints taken of a juvenile upon arrest is required if (i) a petition or warrant is not filed (within 60 days of arrest) or (ii) the juvenile is found not guilty, or in any other case resulting in a disposition for which fingerprints are not required to be forwarded to the Central Criminal Records Exchange (within six months of the disposition). Patron - Cantor HB1404 Regional juvenile detention commissions. Adds the Roanoke Valley Detention Commission. Patron - Cranwell SB229 Juvenile court proceedings; records. Corrects an inconsistency and conforms the provisions governing confidentiality of records from delinquency proceedings involving juveniles 14 or older to make them the same in both the juvenile and the circuit courts. In either court the judge may close the proceedings for cause, but not over objection of the juvenile defendant. In the circuit court, if the proceedings are closed, all records therefrom remain closed. Under current law, if proceedings in the juvenile court are closed, the records are nonetheless open unless the court enters an order upon finding that confidentiality is necessary to protect a juvenile victim or a juvenile witness. In addition to the conflict between the provisions in each court, it should be noted that current law affords no protections to adult victims and witnesses in the juvenile courts. Patron - Trumbo SB264 Delinquent juveniles; detention. Grants the court the authority to order a juvenile and/or the persons legally responsible for his care to pay for the costs incurred for support and treatment during any period that the juvenile was in detention or shelter care prior to disposition. Patron - Reynolds SB404 Juvenile courts; termination of parental rights. Grants the juvenile courts exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving the termination of parental rights and prescribes procedures governing juries in these cases and appeal on the record directly to the Court of Appeals. Patron - Gartlan SB573 Juvenile courts. Specifies that the juvenile courts have jurisdiction over seat belt offenses committed by juveniles and offenses committed by anyone who fails to use a child restraint device in a motor vehicle when required. Patron - Saslaw SB669 Juvenile and domestic relations district court law. Amends the purpose and intent statement of this law to provide that the law shall assure the fundamental rights and liberty interests to autonomy in child rearing by each parent, and that state interference with those rights and interests must be justified by clear and convincing evidence of imminent harm to the child's health or welfare. Patron - Lambert Carried Over HB165 Protective orders. Provides that the third and subsequent violation of a protective order is punishable by a minimum, mandatory term of 30 days, 10 days of which may not be suspended. Patron - Cantor HB419 Delinquent juveniles; detention. Allows the court to order confinement of a first offender, 14 or older, in a local secure facility for 30 days or more. Patron - Clement HB420 Juvenile transfer for trial as adult. Adds abduction by a prisoner to the list of offenses which may subject the juvenile to transfer for trial as an adult if the prosecutor so desires. Patron - Clement HB586 Juvenile delinquency. Requires any juvenile convicted of a misdemeanor to participate in community service. Patron - Albo HB683 Abuse and lose; juveniles. Adds drinking or offering another a drink in public to the list of offenses for which a juvenile is denied driving privileges for six months. Patron - Moran HB711 Juvenile facilities. Amends provisions regarding the placement of a juvenile aged 14 or older who has committed an offense which, if committed by an adult, would be punishable by confinement in a correctional facility. Under the new provisions, a juvenile who has been adjudged a delinquent within the last 12 months may be placed in a detention home or other secure facility without being committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice; adjudication as a delinquent within the past 12 months is not required in order to be committed; the time served in detention awaiting disposition is no longer counted toward the assigned period of confinement; review hearings will no longer be mandatory but upon request; treatment will no longer be required to be provided in the community, thereby allowing treatment in the facility; and confined juveniles are allowed to earn "good time." Patron - Dillard HB712 Serious or Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP). Allows persons who are being supervised by SHOCAP on their eighteenth birthday to continue to be supervised until age 21. Patron - Dillard HB960 Discovery; delinquent juveniles. Makes the rules of discovery applicable to misdemeanor cases and felony preliminary hearings in the general district courts applicable to proceedings in the juvenile courts in which a juvenile is alleged to be delinquent or in which a person is charged with a crime. Patron - Robinson HB1024 Executions of money judgments. Clarifies that a judgment for fines and costs can be executed in the court in which the judgment was rendered, including a general district and juvenile and domestic relations district court. Patron - Grayson HB1146 Placement of juvenile in secure local facility. Provides that predispositional detention of a juvenile will not count as part of the six-month period for which the court may order the juvenile committed to the Department. Patron - Moran HB1151 Custody and visitation. Requires the court to order the parties, who are or were formerly married to each other, in cases involving custody and visitation of minor children, to attend divorce education classes. The parties are also required to submit a unified parenting plan outlining the rights and duties of each parent. Patron - Katzen HB1152 Prepayable traffic infractions and nontraffic offenses. Removes the Supreme Court's authority to set the minimum fines for prepayable infractions and offenses and provides for these under statute instead. The bill also increases each minimum fine by $10 except for those applicable to speeding, which remain three dollars for each mile over the speed limit. Patron - Barlow HB1181 Delinquent children; loss of driving privileges for alcohol, firearm and drug offenses. Lengthens and in some cases doubles periods of license suspension for juvenile firearm, drug and alcohol offenses, and removes mandate that court give deferred disposition ("first offender" status) in such cases. Patron - O'Brien SB221 Subsequent offenses by juveniles. Provides that a juvenile must be convicted, as opposed to simply tried, in circuit court in order for subsequent offenses by him to be treated as adult offenses. Patron - Reynolds SB298 Juvenile court proceedings; public access. Requires the clerks of the juvenile (and family) courts to make available the time, place and date of a hearing of a juvenile 14 or older who is charged with a felony. This will facilitate public access to criminal proceedings involving older juveniles. Patron - Reynolds SB366 Reopening case after conviction. Provides that a nonfelony district court conviction which has not been appealed, or for which the appeal has been withdrawn within 10 days after the conviction, may be reopened within 60 days of the conviction. Currently, it may be reopened without regard to an appeal. Patron - Reynolds SB450 Juvenile courts; fieri facias. Specifies authority of juvenile court clerks to issue writs for execution of judgments for fines and costs. Patron - Norment SB653 Juvenile court proceedings; records. Requires the circuit court to keep separate files for cases involving support which are on appeal from the juvenile court. The bill specifies the parties entitled to inspect the separate files for cases on appeal from the juvenile court. The bill also clarifies when juvenile court hearings can be open. The bill also corrects an inconsistency and conforms the provisions governing confidentiality of records from delinquency proceedings involving juveniles 14 or older to make them the same in both the juvenile and the circuit courts. In either court the judge may close the proceedings for cause, but not over objection of the juvenile defendant. In the circuit court, if the proceedings are closed, all records therefrom remain closed. Under current law, if proceedings in the juvenile court are closed, the records are nonetheless open unless the court enters an order upon finding that confidentiality is necessary to protect a juvenile victim or a juvenile witness. In addition to the conflict between the provisions in each court, it should be noted that current law affords no protection to adult victims and witnesses in the juvenile courts. Patron - Edwards SB691 Juvenile delinquents. Allows the court to require a juvenile found delinquent based on certain crimes to (i) participate in a gang-activity prevention program funded under the Virginia Juvenile Community Crime Control Act, (ii) make restitution or reparation to the aggrieved party or parties for actual damages or loss caused by the offense for which the juvenile was found to be delinquent, and (iii) participate in a public service project under such conditions as the court prescribes. The bill also requires that transfer reports and social history reports include an assessment of affiliation with a youth gang. Patron - Mims < PREVIOUS | CONTENTS | NEXT >