Category: Criminal and Serious Traffic Defense

Senate Bill 608 proposed by Senator Scott Surovell provides that any provision in any plea agreement that purports to waive, release, or extinguish the right of a person to file a petition requesting the expungement of police and court records shall be void and unenforceable as against public policy.  SB 608 passed the Senate on February 1, 2018,and the breakdown of the 29-11 vote is as follows:

YEAS–Barker, Carrico, Chafin, Chase, Dance, Dunnavant, Ebbin, Edwards, Favola, Hanger, Howell, Lewis, Locke, Lucas, Marsden, Mason, McClellan, McDougle, McPike, Obenshain, Petersen, Saslaw, Spruill, Stanley, Sturtevant, Suetterlein, Surovell, Vogel, Wexton

NAYS–Black, Cosgrove, Deeds, DeSteph, Newman, Norment, Peake, Reeves, Ruff, Stuart, Wagner

On January 29, 2018, the Virginia Senate’s Courts of Justice Committee voted against SB111, sponsored by Adam Ebbin, which would decriminalize simple marijuana possession and provide 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.

The 9-6 vote breakdowns as follows:

YEAS:  Saslaw (D), Howell (D), Lucas (D), Edwards (D), Deeds (D), Petersen (D)

NAYS:  Obenshain (R), Norment (R), McDougle (R), Stuart (R), Stanley (R), Reeves (R), Chafin (R), Sturtevant (R), Peake (R)

HB 1063, sponsored by Delegate Steve Heretick, sought to decriminalize possession of no more than one-half ounce of marijuana and provide a civil penalty of no more than $250 for a first violation and $1,000 for a second or subsequent violation.  The Bill has failed to advance from Subcommittee #1 of the Committee for the Courts of Justice.  The members of the Subcommittee are:  Chairman C. Todd Gilbert (R-15^th District), Robert B. Bell (R-58^th District), Benjamin Cline (R-24^th District), Les Adams (R-16^th District), Christopher Collins (R-29^th District), Vivian Watts (D-39^th District), Charniele Herring (D-46^th District), and Michael Mullin (D-93^rd District).  The lone vote to advance the Bill was cast by Delegate Herring.

A groundswell of support was seen in 2017 to raise the the felony theft threshold in Virginia from $200. Indeed, Governor Northamhas vowed to make it one of his legislative priorities, Lt. Governor Fairfax has stated that we should “not making felons out of so many people” under this archaic threshold, and Senator Saslaw (D-Fairfax), who has called the felony theft bar “unethical”, recently said, “No Virginian should be marked as a felon for stealing a pair of sunglasses.”

On January 18, the Senate voted to raise the felony theft threshold from $200 to $500. The fate of Senate Bill 105 remains to be seen; however, as the House has consistently blocked such efforts in the past.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. “Tommy” Norment Jr. (R-James City County) is expected to propose a bill this session that aims to further reform simple possession marijuana policy for first-time offenders. Current law provides for “deferred dispositions” for first-time offenders, which includes dismissal of the charge after the defendant complies with certain court-ordered conditions. Unfortunately, despite the dismissal, the record of the arrest can still be found on a criminal history database (i.e., the defendant’s record is not “clean” after the dismissal). Norment seeks to amend current law by allowing the record of the arrest for possession of marijuana to be removed from the national criminal database upon a defendant’s compliance with court-ordered conditions. Norment’s proposal, however, falls short of decriminalization and if fails to address concerns regarding enforcement of marijuana laws in the Commonwealth.