As January 9, 2002, the Senate Courts of Justice Docket included:

Warren Barry's SB 10 Death Penalty Opposition Registry; created bill providing "that a person may devise his entire estate to the Virginia Board of Corrections expressly for use by the Board to defray the cost of life imprisonment of persons convicted of capital murder and that if a person (i) so devises his entire estate, (ii) registers his opposition to the death penalty in a Death Penalty Opposition Registry and (iii) is the victim of capital murder, the person convicted of the capital murder shall not be eligible for execution "

[What do you think? See a Senator Warren Barry Asks Death Penalty Opponents to Pay as They Go and " and letter by John McCutcheon on Death Penalty Estate Planning and Localities Struggle with Costs of Prosecuting Death Penalty ]

and

Roscoe Reynolds SB 46 Carrying firearms during protective order bill clarifies "that any person with a concealed handgun permit is prohibited from carrying any firearm, concealed or otherwise, for the duration of any protective order, and requires surrender of his permit to the court entering the order"

and

Henry Marsh's SB 90 Death penalty; moritorium on executions bill provides "that the State shall not conduct executions of prisoners sentenced to death. All other matters of law relating to the death penalty, such as bringing and trying capital charges, sentencing proceedings, appeals and habeas review are not affected by the bill"

and

Yvonne Miller's SB 111 Burning object on property of another with intent to intimidate bill rewrites "the cross-burning statute, without any reference to a cross or other object and without any presumption of intent to intimidate, to provide that any person, with the intent of intimidating another, who burns an object on the property of another, on a highway or other public place is guilty of a Class 6 felony."

[What do you think? See Why it was right to strike down the cross-burning law and Josh Wheeler Elaborates on Cross Burning, Threats and the First Amendment and Lloyd Snook's Response to Downing Smith and Others Regarding Virginia's Cross Burning Statute and other discussions of cross burning on www.loper.org/~george ]

Since that time, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee has received

Kenneth W. Stolle's SB 223 Terrorism; penalties bill "raises penalties for use of infectious biological substances." It "clarif[ies] that either oral or written threats do not have to be delivered to the intended victim to be punishable. The bill adds culpability for threatening to poison a place or compelling the evacuation of a place to the "bomb threat" statute that now punishes just bomb threats and increases punishment ... if the act is done in the furtherance of terrorism. [It] allows the Attorney General to apply for a wiretap if he suspects someone of felonious activity in furtherance of terrorism."

and

Henry Marsh's SB 280 Racial Profiling and Traffic Statistics Reporting Act requires each local and state police officer to record [the] race, ethnicity, color, age and gender of the alleged traffic offender ... and to record the specific reason for the stop, whether the person was interrogated, charged or arrested, and whether a written citation or warning was issued... also requires the development of a statewide database [of this information].

and

Thomas K. Norment, Jr.'s SB 295 School safety personnel which "defines a school resource officer as a trained, certified law-enforcement officer hired by a local law-enforcement agency to provide law-enforcement and security services to Virginia public elementary and secondary schools and a school security officer as an individual who is employed by the local school board for the singular purpose of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations of school board policies, and detaining and apprehending persons violating the law or school board policies ...." The bill seeks the establishment of minimum standards for hiring and training of the SSOs.

and

Kenneth W. Stolle's SB 315 Comprehensive Terrorism Act; penalties. "Defines "act of terrorism" and makes it a Class 2 felony for commission of the act and a Class 1 felony if someone dies as a result of the act. Additionally, the bill makes possession with the intent to injure of a chemical or nuclear substance a Class 3 felony, increases the penalties for possession or release of an infectious biological substance, increases the penalties for possession or manufacture of fire bombs and explosive devices (including "hoax explosive devices"), makes computer trespass in the commission of an act of terrorism a Class 5 felony, makes committing an act of terrorism with a firearm a separate offense, and makes obtaining unauthorized documents from DMV in conjunction with an act of terrorism a Class 4 felony." The bill also expands the ability to wiretap and the scope of wiretapping.

and

Nick Rerras' SB 422 Terrorism; penalty. "Provides that when a terroristic act results in the death of any person, the mastermind of such terroristic act shall be guilty of a Class 1 felony and eligible for the death penalty."

and

John S. Edwards' SB 497 Death penalty bill "prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on mentally retarded persons."

and

Kenneth W. Stolle's SB 514 Terrorism bill "creates an anti-terrorism statutory scheme."