Increases from $200 to $500 the threshold amount of money taken or value of goods or chattel taken at which the crime rises from petit larceny to grand larceny. The bill increases the threshold by the same amount for the classification of certain property crimes. This bill is identical to
Establishes the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman (the Office) within the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Office's duties include (i) receiving, reviewing, and attempting to resolve complaints from qualified education loan borrowers; (ii) compiling and analyzing data on such complaints; (iii) assisting qualified education loan borrowers to understand their rights and responsibilities under the terms of qualified education loans; (iv) providing information regarding the problems and concerns of qualified education loan borrowers; (v) analyzing and monitoring the development and implementation of applicable laws and policies; and (vi) disseminating information concerning the availability of the Office to assist qualified education loan borrowers and any other participant in qualified education loan lending with qualified education loan servicing concerns. The Office is further required to establish and maintain a qualified education loan borrower education course by December 1, 2019. This bill is identical to
Adds any locality or person that owns a historical African American cemetery to the list of qualified organizations able to receive funds for the preservation of historical African American cemeteries and graves. The bill also allows any locality to receive and hold such funds on behalf of any qualified organization until such time as the organization is able to receive or utilize the funds. The bill requires that the owner of a historical African American cemetery allow reasonable ingress and egress to such cemetery by members of an organization qualified to receive funds for cemetery care and maintenance.
Adds the Mt. Calvary Cemetery in the City of Portsmouth, with 266 eligible gravesites, to the list of historical African American cemeteries for which qualifying charitable organizations may receive funds from the Department of Historic Resources for the care of historical African American cemeteries and graves. This bill is identical to
Provides that the reduction from four years to three years in the terms of membership for nonlegislative citizen members of the Advisory Board on Service and Volunteerism enacted in 2017 applies to succeeding terms as well as initial terms and repeals the sunset on the Advisory Board.
Prohibits a supplier making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer in the Commonwealth from (i) failing to present the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner, (ii) charging the consumer for an automatic renewal or continuous service without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent, and (iii) failing to provide an acknowledgment that includes the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms, cancellation policy, and information regarding how to cancel in a manner that is capable of being retained by the consumer. In the case of a material change in the terms of the automatic renewal or continuous service offer, the bill would require the supplier to provide the consumer with a clear and conspicuous notice of the material change and information regarding how to cancel. The measure provides that in any case in which a supplier sends any goods, wares, merchandise, or products to a consumer under a continuous service agreement or automatic renewal of a purchase without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent, the goods, wares, merchandise, or products shall for all purposes be deemed an unconditional gift to the consumer. The bill exempts certain services and businesses from its provisions. A violation is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, though a supplier is not subject to civil penalties or damages if the supplier makes a good faith effort to comply with the measure's requirements. The measure has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019.
Provides that upon issuance of an emergency, preliminary, or permanent protective order, the clerk of the court shall make available to the petitioner information that is published by the Department of Criminal Justice Services for victims of domestic violence or for petitioners in protective order cases.
Increases to a Class 6 felony from a Class 1 misdemeanor the penalties for the following crimes if a minor is involved: (i) keeping, residing in, or visiting a bawdy place; (ii) aiding prostitution; and (iii) using vehicles to promote prostitution. The bill also adds felony violations of these offenses to (a) the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, (b) the definition of violent felony for the purposes of the sentencing guidelines, (c) the list of predicate criminal acts for street gangs, (d) the list of offenses that may constitute racketeering under the Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, and (e) the offenses that may be investigated by a multi-jurisdiction grand jury. The bill also makes applicable to all persons, regardless of the gender of the victim, the crimes of (1) assisting or aiding in the abduction of or threatening to abduct a female under 16 years of age for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution and (2) placing or leaving one's wife in a bawdy place.
