Del. Jackie Glass

Requirement for appeals bond; indigent parties;appeal of unlawful detainer. Removes the requirement for an indigentdefendant in civil actions to post an appeal bond in any civil caseappealed from the general district court. The bill also removes provisionsof the Code allowing a plaintiff in an unlawful detainer case thathas been appealed to the circuit court to request the judge to ordera writ of eviction immediately upon entry of judgment for possession.

Statute of limitations; medical debt; judgmententered for medical debt. Provides that the statute of limitationsfor an action on any contract, written or unwritten, to collect medicaldebt, including actions brought by the Commonwealth, is three years.The bill further provides that no execution shall be issued and noaction brought on a judgment, including a judgment in favor of theCommonwealth, rendered on medical debt after seven years from thedate of such judgment; where the medical debt incurred was for life-sustainingtreatment, no execution shall be issued and no action brought onsuch judgment more than three years from the date of such judgment.Under current law, the period within which such execution or actionshall be brought is 20 years in circuit court and 10 years in generaldistrict court.

Criminal sexual assault; definition of intimate parts; penalty. Includes in the definition of "intimate parts," for the purposes of criminal sexual assault, the chest, including the breast, of any person.

Housing Authorities Law; notice of intent todispose of housing projects. Removes the requirement that anyhousing authority required to submit an application to the U.S. Departmentof Housing and Urban Development to demolish, liquidate, or otherwisedispose of such housing project also serve a notice to any agencythat would be responsible for administering tenant-based rental assistanceto persons who would otherwise be displaced from the housing project.The bill shortens from 12 to six the number of months prior to suchapplication submission date required before the housing authorityserves notice of intent to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and each tenant residing in the housing project.The bill prohibits the housing authority from requiring a tenantcurrently residing in such housing project to surrender possessionof his unit until at least 12 months after serving the notice requiredby the bill unless permitted under the lease agreement or other applicablelaw.

Local government hiring; people with disabilities. Requires any locality to take into consideration or give preferenceto an individual's status as a person with a disability in its employmenthiring policies and practices, provided that such person with a disabilitymeets all of the knowledge, skills, and eligibility requirementsfor the available position.

Historical African American cemeteries. Changes the date of establishment that qualifies historical African American cemeteries for appropriated funds to care for such cemeteries from prior to January 1, 1900, to prior to January 1, 1948, and provides that the total number of graves in a qualifying cemetery shall be the number of markers of African Americans who were interred in such cemetery prior to January 1, 1948. Under current law, the total number of graves is the number of markers of African Americans who lived at any time between January 1, 1800, and January 1, 1900. This bill is identical to SB 477.