CG2 Consulting’s Portfolio

The patron has asked that this bill be stricken from the docket. The criminal law subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee has recommended that it be stricken as requested. Unfortunately, the patron's reasons for doing this have to do with the fact that Delegate Gilbert has introduced a budget amendment that he says will address this issue. It is unfortunate that Delegate Gilbert and others seek to use the budget process to pass substantive legislation that would otherwise not get through the committee process where public comment is heard and voting is public.

The Virginia REAL ID type legal presence requirements have caused problems for older Virginians, particularly in minority or rural communities, who do not have birth certificates sometimes because they were born at home. This bill is intended to correct this predictable result of a Virginia law that imposed stringent legal presence requirements on everyone seeking a Virginia drivers' license or ID.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO opposes this bill which invites bias-based policing.

There is already a criminal statute that prohibits extorting something of value from a person by threatening to report their immigration status. Unfortunately, the criminal sentencing guidelines often mean that a person convicted of this crime receives minimum penalties. This bill would give the victim of such extortion the right to sue in civil court for damages.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO opposes this bill which invites bias-based policing.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO supports this bill. This bill establishes for the first time a specific criminal statute outlawing human trafficking. Currently, trafficking is dealt with in the code through extortion laws.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO opposes this bill which invites bias-based policing.

This bill would require private companies seeking to do business with state or local government to use the federal e-verify system to check whether their employees are legally eligible for employment. Unfortunately, the e-verify system currently is underfunded and has a 10% error rate. In addition, it isn't a substitute for the current paper driven I-9 process and record keeping requirements. It is in addition to the current system and imposes additional bureaucracy on small businesses that can ill afford the costs of a duplicative and often inaccurate system.The federal government has postponed implementation of everify for federal contractors until at least May 2009. The current law establishing everify as a pilot program is due to expire in March 2009.

This bill makes technical corrections in an employer sanctions law passed in 2008.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO opposes this bill. Having failed in two previous legislative sessions to convince his colleagues to pass legislation changing state law to give every police officer unfettered discretion to decide whether to take a person who commits a state law misdemeanor offense into custody and or simply issue a summons, Miller is back with the same bill again this year. Giving each officer unlimited and unfettered discretion to decide whom to take into custody is an invitation to bias-based policing, particularly since all persons taken into custody are now subject to an immigration status check.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO supports this bill which would enhance and encourage civic participation by language minorities.

This bill requires every local registrar of voters to ascertain the citizenship status of people registering to vote. The Secretary of the State Board of Elections testified that there is no evidence that non-citizens have been registered to vote.

This legislation seeks to add teens getting learner's permits to the same state level REAL ID type legal presence requirements that have applied to adult drivers since January 2005. DMV reports that this is already the law and their practice and policy.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO opposes this bill which is the first step toward putting an English only requirement in the state constitution. Virginia established English as its "official" language in 1996. This proposal sends a message to all persons in Virginia whose first language is other than English that they are not welcome.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO opposes this bill. This bill would require criminal defendants who need English language interpreters to pay for those services if convicted. At the same time, interpreters for those with hearing disabilities would continue to be paid for by the state regardless of the outcome of a trial. Because federal law requires court systems funded in whole or in part with federal dollars to be accessible to people with limited English proficiency, passage of this bill likely would render the entire Virginia court system out of compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and raise constitutional issues as well. Bills identical to this legislation have been defeated in prior sessions of the General Assembly and this one should be, too.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. This bill opens a small window of opportunity for Virginia students who are undocumented to qualify for in-state tuition. The committee amendment recommended by the subcommittee at its meeting today would substitute for paragraph 5 beginning on line 25 of the bill language from a 2007 version of the legislation which is not as limiting.

This is a VACOLAO legislative priority. VACOLAO supports this bill which is identical to a bill that passed the Senate 39-0 last year and failed to pass the House of Delegates by six votes. It would, as a matter of statewide policy, prohibit law enforcement officers from asking a victim or witness of crime about their immigration status unless it was essential to the investigation of a crime or the person had him or herself been arrested for a crime.

The federal government has postponed implementation of everify for federal contractors until at least May 2009. The current law establishing everify as a pilot program is due to expire in March 2009. It is not time to require Virginia employers to participate in this program which is underfunded, not ready for prime time, and has an error rate of up to 10%,