Sex offenders; prohibited entry onto school property, penalty. (HB622)

Introduced By

Del. Rob Bell (R-Charlottesville)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Sex offenses prohibiting entry onto school property; penalty. Provides that an adult who has been convicted of any felony offense for which registration on the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry is required where the victim of the offense was a minor is guilty of a Class 6 felony if he enters or is present (i) upon any property he knows or has reason to know is a public or private elementary or secondary school or child day center property during school hours and during school-related or school-sponsored activities; (ii) upon any property during hours when such property is being used by such a school for school-related or school-sponsored activities; or (iii) on any school bus. Under current law, only an adult who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense is guilty of a Class 6 felony for entering or being present upon such property. Read the Bill »

Status

03/01/2018: Failed to Pass in Committee

History

DateAction
01/08/2018Committee
01/08/2018Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18104744D
01/08/2018Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/16/2018Impact statement from VCSC (HB622)
01/22/2018Impact statement from DPB (HB622)
02/08/2018Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1
02/09/2018Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
02/09/2018Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (16-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/09/2018Committee substitute printed 18107003D-H1
02/10/2018Read first time
02/12/2018Impact statement from DPB (HB622H1)
02/12/2018Impact statement from VCSC (HB622H1)
02/12/2018Read second time
02/12/2018Committee substitute agreed to 18107003D-H1
02/12/2018Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB622H1
02/13/2018Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N)
02/13/2018VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (100-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/14/2018Constitutional reading dispensed
02/14/2018Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
02/26/2018Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (9-Y 5-N) (see vote tally)
02/26/2018Committee substitute printed 18107679D-S1
02/26/2018Rereferred to Finance
02/27/2018Impact statement from VCSC (HB622S1)
03/01/2018Impact statement from DPB (HB622S1)
03/01/2018Continued to 2019 in Finance (16-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)

Comments

Mary D. Devoy writes:

This Bill has no start date of July 1, 2018 and per § 9.1-901. section C without a start date any new Sex Offender restriction, regulation or mandate will be applied retroactively.

That means any Non-Violent Registered Sex Offender who was convicted of a Misdemeanor (with a minor) 20 years ago or 2 years ago will now be retroactively ban/prohibited from taking their own child to and from school or attending any of their school-sponsored events on or off of school property.

When a similar change occurred back in 2008 to a different group of RSO's the State did not tell those parents who had legally been allowed to pick up their children from school in June that it was now a crime. But the schools knew and they called the police on the parents and those parents faced new convictions for an arbitrary action that had no criminal intent.

If this Bill becomes law on July 1, 2018 then Non-Violent RSO's who have no idea the laws has been enacted will be facing a Felony when their original conviction was a Misdemeanor, think about that for a minute.

NARSOL writes:

This legislation is very ill-advised. It criminalizes innocent behavior and extends punishment for already-punished offenses not only to the offender but to his children. Is not encouraging parental involvement rather than discouraging and criminalizing it in the best interest of the future of society?

Karen Hawkins writes:

When is the VIrginia GA going to stop punishing people who have already been punished? These bills take up time that could be well spent in other areas. “Retroactively” is a word that needs to find its way out of Virginia. When is enough enough???

Mary D. Devoy writes:

I made an error in my earlier comment, I typed misdemeanor and it's felony. I'm just one person without a law degree reading through tons of Bills as they post online every hour, I'm gonna make a mistake once in a while.

But the proposal is STILL retroactive and there will be no notice given by the State to the parents/grandparents/guardians who today can legally pick up and drop of their children and attend the school events. And history has proven the schools call the police on these parents who are not doing anything wrong, just participating in their child's life.

By writing and passing retroactive laws only against Registered Sex Offenders with no notice the State is intentionally setting an intentional trap for new arrests, charges and convictions.

Any RSO who has a a child in a school should be allowed to be on school property as long as they are there for a legitimate reason.

What happens when a single parent is an RSO and their child has an emergency at school? The school is going to call the parent to come and get the child if an ambulance isn't required some exceptions have to be made and yet the Virginia Legislature makes none.

Proximity laws are baseless and RSO's have the second lowest recidivism rate of all crimes.

Virginia doesn't ban people convicted of DUI's from bars or ABC Stores or people with drug convictions from pharmacies or people with animal abuse convictions from pet stores or zoos, so why continue expanding this statute?

Mary D. Devoy writes:

In prepping to oppose HB622 I submitted a FOIA request with the Virginia State Police.

I asked for total number of investigations, charges and/or convictions for violations of § 18.2-370.5. for each year 2007 -20017, I was willing to pay $225.00 (yes, I know that's a lot).

I was just advised by the VSP it would cost me $325.46, that’s absurd! So now I'll have no actual data on the spikes in 2008 and 2009 of charges/arrest/convictions or the joke of a $50,000 FIS in opposing this retroactive expansion that will have no notice for those it affects.