Hate crimes; definition, reports to State Police. (SB799)
Introduced By
Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) with support from co-patron Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✗ |
Passed Committee |
☐ |
Passed House |
☐ |
Passed Senate |
☐ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
State Police; reporting hate crimes. Includes within the definition of "hate crime" a criminal act committed against a person because of sexual orientation or gender identification and requires the reporting of the commission of such crime to the Department of State Police. Read the Bill »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
History
Date | Action |
---|---|
01/02/2015 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/15 15102315D |
01/02/2015 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
01/14/2015 | Failed to report (defeated) in Courts of Justice (6-Y 7-N) (see vote tally) |
Comments
The ACLU of Virginia supports collecting and reporting data on the demographics of crime and law enforcement, including reporting on hate crimes. This bill extends the current hate crimes reporting requirement to cover reporting of crimes against persons because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. There is some concern about the free speech implications of the current law that requires reports of "incidents" vs. "crimes" particularly where it is not clear where the information will be stored or how it will be used.