Public auction of personal property to satisfylien; advertisement requirement; website. Allows an advertisementfor the public auction of personal property to satisfy a lien tobe published on a publicly accessible website that conducts propertysales. Under current law, an advertisement is required to be publishedin a newspaper of general circulation.
Snare traps; prohibition. Prohibits theuse of snare traps with a circumference greater than 12 inches tohunt or kill game animals.
Cemeteries; interment rights; proof of kinship.Allows a family member or descendant of a deceased person buriedin a cemetery that is located on private property to petition thecircuit court of the county or city where the property is located for interment rights upon such property. The bill provides that suchfamily member or descendant may prove kinship to the court throughofficial documentation or nonofficial documentation, such as obituaries,family Bibles or other documents with family signatures, journalsor letters of the deceased person interred on the private property,family photographs, or other documentation deemed by the court tobe reliable. The bill requires, upon satisfactory showing of proofof kinship, a private property owner to allow such family memberor descendant access to the property for the purpose of interment.
Providing access to adjoining property to makeimprovements or repairs. Allows an owner or lessee of real propertywho seeks to improve, repair, or maintain his property, and the propertyis so situated that it is impossible to perform the improvements,repairs, or maintenance without entering adjoining property and permissionto enter the adjoining property has been denied, to petition thecircuit court for a license to enter the adjoining property for thepurpose of performing the improvements, repairs, or maintenance.The petition and affidavits, if any, shall state the facts making such entry necessary and the date or dates on which entry is sought.The bill provides that such license shall be granted by the courtin an appropriate case upon such terms as justice requires. Any such entry shall not be deemed a trespass and the licensee shall be liableto the adjoining owner or his lessee for actual damages occurringas a result of the entry.
Public institutions of higher education; Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program; established. Establishes the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program (the Program) to address student hunger at public institutions of higher education. The bill provides that the Program shall be managed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and available for participation by public institutions of higher education; however, participation in the Program shall be optional for such institutions. Under the bill, if a public institution of higher education satisfies certain criteria set out in the bill, including creating initiatives on campus to address student hunger, it shall be designated as a "Hunger-Free Campus" and the Council shall award a grant to such institution. A public institution of higher education that receives a grant under the bill shall utilize the funds to support on-campus efforts and initiatives to eliminate student hunger at such institution. The bill requires the Council to submit a report to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education no later than two years after the establishment of the Program that shall include (i) the total number and amounts of grant awards, (i) information about the impact that the Program has had on establishing additional hunger-free campuses at public institutions of higher education and reducing the number of students experiencing food insecurity, and (iii) recommendations regarding the potential establishment of an annual appropriation for the Program.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;terms and conditions of rental agreement; warranty of habitability.Prohibits a landlord from waiving, either orally or in writing,his duty to maintain a fit premises, and requires a landlord to includein every rental agreement the terms and conditions governing suchduty.
Grounds for divorce; cruelty, abuse, desertion,or abandonment; waiting period. Eliminates the one-year waitingperiod for being decreed a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, reasonableapprehension of bodily hurt, or willful desertion or abandonment.
Virginia Community Policing Act; collectionof data and reporting requirements. Expands the type and detailof information required to be collected by a law-enforcement officerduring a motor vehicle stop or other investigatory stop, or whenresponding to a motor vehicle accident, in order to comply with the Virginia Community Policing Act.
Housing authorities; appointment of commissioners; exception. Provides an exception to the prohibition againsta local redevelopment and housing authority's appointment of an officeror employee of the city or county for which the authority was createdas a commissioner by allowing an authority to appoint as a commissionerone member of its city or town's council and the mayor of its cityor town, or his designee.
Elections; local officers; election and termsof mayor and city council for cities and towns; minimum population.Limits to localities with a population of at least 25,000 the application of the requirement that, in a city or town that imposesdistrict-based or ward-based residency requirements for members ofthe city or town council, the member elected from each district or ward must be elected by the qualified voters of that district orward and not by the locality at large.
Facilities for civilly committed sexually violent predators; reports to the Commonwealth's designated protection and advocacy system. Adds persons who are civilly committed sexually violent predators to the categories of persons for whom the Commonwealth's designated advocacy and protection system provides oversight, provided that funding for such purpose is provided by the General Assembly. The bill also requires state facilities to which sexually violent predators are civilly committed to notify in writing the Director of the Commonwealth's designated protection and advocacy system within 48 hours of critical incidents or deaths of individuals receiving services in the state facility, and requires the Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to provide to the Director a written report setting forth the known facts of critical incidents or deaths of individuals receiving services in facilities to which sexually violent predators are civilly committed within 15 working days of such critical incident or death.
Child support obligations; party's incarcerationnot deemed voluntary unemployment or underemployment. Providesthat a party's incarceration for 180 or more consecutive days shallnot be deemed voluntary unemployment or underemployment for the purposesof calculating child support and imputing income for such calculation.The bill further provides that a party's incarceration for 180 ormore consecutive days shall be a material change of circumstancesupon which a modification of a child support order may be based.
