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

DateAction
01/02/2015Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/15 15102315D
01/02/2015Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/14/2015Failed to report (defeated) in Courts of Justice (6-Y 7-N) (see vote tally)

Comments

ACLU-VA LGBT Rights, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

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.