Senate committee advances legislation to end “boyfriend loophole” in Virginia
Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, is sponsoring a bill that would create a misdemeanor for anyone who purchases or possesses a firearm after they have been found guilty of assault and battery against some
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Senate committee advances legislation to end “boyfriend loophole” in Virginia
Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, is sponsoring a bill that would create a misdemeanor for anyone who purchases or possesses a firearm after they have been found guilty of assault and battery against someone with whom they are in a relationship.
Currently, domestic violence protections exist only for spouses or family members. This legislation would expand those protections to people who are in romantic relationships.
Convicted offenders would not be able to buy or possess a firearm for three years.
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee advanced the bill on a party-line vote Monday.
“This is a long overdue fix that needs to be taken care of to protect people who are in dating relationships,” Perry said when presenting the legislation.
One of the benefits of providing these additional protections to individuals is that their cases would be handled in domestic relations courts instead of general district courts.
Nathan Greene, the commonwealth’s attorney for the City of Williamsburg and James City County, spoke in support of the bill in his personal capacity.
“General district court is equipped to handle the crimes that happen when two individuals come together for a moment a criminal act takes place,” Greene said. “[Domestic relations] is equipped to address those crimes where there is either a past or ongoing relationship, and that relationship is a component to bringing them together and therefore should be considered with how to handle that case.”
Greene said the bill would address the “longstanding problem” of the law treating an altercation between strangers the same way it addresses an altercation between a romantic couple that doesn’t live together.
No one at the committee meeting spoke in opposition to the legislation.
Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, asked for clarification from the committee’s legal counsel on how the bill defines a romantic relationship.
“What this [bill] does is include in our very definite definitions of family members, a category that is not defined and cannot be defined,” said Steven Benjamin, the legal counsel for the committee.
Benjamin continued by pointing out how it could include occasional romantic partners, friends with benefits or people who meet up when they have a free night.
“When we define family or household member, then there is some legal, financial, cohabitating or emotional relationship,” Benjamin said. “But intimate partner is described only as somebody with whom in the previous 12 months one has had a romantic relationship without defining what is a romantic relationship.”
In the United States, more than 1,000 women are killed by intimate partners every year, according to FBI and CDC data. Nearly half of the intimate partner homicides in the U.S. are perpetrated by an unmarried partner, a 2018 study found.
The most common weapon used in the intimate partner homicide of both women and men is a firearm.
Perry’s bill advanced out of committee on a 9-6 party-line vote and was referred to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
If it makes it out of the full Senate and is approved by the House of Delegates, it will then be up to Gov. Glenn Youngkin to either sign or veto the legislation. He has historically been against enacting any new gun restrictions in Virginia.
Today’s General Assembly Schedule
8:00 a.m.House Health and Human Services - Social Services; House Committee Room C - 206, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
8:00 a.m.Senate Finance and Appropriations Resources Subcommittee; Committee Room A, 3rd Floor, General Assembly Building8:30 a.m.House Health and Human Services; House Committee Room C-206, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (committee info)
Adj fullHouse Health and Human Services - Health; House Committee Room C - 206, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of full committee (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
9:00 a.m.House Transportation; House Committee Room B-205, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (committee info)
Adj fullHouse Transportation - Transportation Infrastructure and Funding; House Committee Room B - 205, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of full committee (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
9:15 a.m.Senate Finance and Appropriations; Senate Committee Room A, 3rd Floor, #305, General Assembly Building10:00 a.m.Press Conference: Virginia House Democratic Caucus; House Briefing Room, General Assembly Building
11:00 a.m.House Democratic Caucus; House Room 2, The Capitol
11:00 a.m.House Republican Caucus; House Room 2, The Capitol
11:00 a.m.Senate Democratic Caucus; Senate Room 1, The Capitol
11:15 a.m.Senate Republican Caucus; Senate Room 2, The Capitol
12:00 p.m.House Convenes; House Chamber, The Capitol
12:00 p.m.Senate Convenes; Senate Chamber, The Capitol
15 min aftSenate Privileges and Elections; Senate Room B, General Assembly Building - 15 minutes after adjournment (View Meeting) (committee info)
30 min aftSenate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; Senate Room A, General Assembly Building - 30 minutes after adjournment (View Meeting) (committee info)
1/2 hr aftHouse Labor and Commerce; House Committee Room A-008, General Assembly Building - 1/2 hour after adjournment of House (committee info)
Adj fullHouse Labor and Commerce - Subcommittee #1; House Committee Room A - 008, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of full committee (sub-committee info)
Adj sub #1House Labor and Commerce - Subcommittee #3; House Committee Room A - 008, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of Subcommittee #1 (sub-committee info)
Adj HouseHouse General Laws - ABC/Gaming; House Committee Room B - 205, General Assembly Building -1/2 hour after adjournment of House (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
adj of ABCHouse General Laws - Procurement/Open Government; House Committee Room B - 205, General Assembly Building - immediately upon adjournment of ABC/Gaming Subcommittee (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
15 min aftHouse General Laws; House Committee Room B-205, General Assembly Building - 15 minutes after adjournment of Procurement/Open Government Subcommittee (committee info)
3:30 p.m.Senate Finance and Appropriations Resources Subcommittee; Finance and Appropriations Room, 13th Floor, General Assembly Building
4:00 p.m.House Education - K-12 Subcommittee; House Committee Room C - 206, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
4:00 p.m.House Finance - Subcommittee #2; House North Subcommittee Room - 200, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
4:00 p.m.Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Health; Senate Room C, General Assembly Building
4:30 p.m.Conservative Caucus; House Subcommittee Room 9, General Assembly Building
'Bigger than any one locality': Fiscal-distressed locality bill clears Senate committee - Progress Index
by Bill Atkinson
Saying the issue is “bigger than any one locality,” the sponsor of legislation fine-tuning a process for state intervention into a locality’s financial duress successfully pushed her committee colleagues to support the measure.
The measure, which stemmed from last year’s contentious battle between Hopewell and the Youngkin administration, has undergone several facelifts since it was originally introduced. However, those changes have done little to quell the bill’s opponents who question its overreach into a local government’s business, and that opposition was in full display at Monday’s Senate Local Government Committee meeting.
'Second look' bills continue to advance amid tears, tenacity on both sides - RTD
by Charlotte Rene Woods
Should incarcerated people who have served a substantial portion of their sentences and maintained good behavior in prison be allowed to have their sentences modified? Some Virginia lawmakers, criminal justice reform advocates, former prisoners and some victims of crime say “yes.”
They’re hoping the governor will, too.
But first, legislation would have to clear Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate. So far, House Bill 834 and Senate Bill 427 are advancing through committees.
Measure to create drug affordability board clears Senate committee - Cardinal News
A bill that would create a board for prescription drug affordability passed 10-5 across party lines in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Monday evening.
The bill, carried by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, directs the governor to appoint members of the General Assembly, alternate members and a stakeholder council to conduct an affordability review of drug products annually. The board would have the power to review the cost of certain drugs and try to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to bring costs down.
