As of January 14, 2002, the House Courts of Justice Docket included:

Robert Marshall's HB 107 Posting of "In God We Trust" in courtrooms bill requiring "every chief judge or other chief administrative officer of every Virginia court, whether not of record or of record, to post prominently in a conspicuous place in each of their courtrooms for all citizens to read the phrase, "In God We Trust," which is the national motto of the United States pursuant to 36 U.S.C. § 186 (1999)"

[Is it to the benefit of members of the criminal justice community to read "In God We Trust" as they enter local courtrooms? And, if so, how so?]

and

Karen Darner's HB 133 Crimes against nature bill "reducing the penalty for crimes against nature, excluding bestiality, between consenting adults from a Class 6 felony to a Class 4 misdemeanor "

[Is this an appropriate time to ask our local representatives to support the decriminalization of sodomy? See Crimes Against Nature and HB718, HB2309 and the Decriminalization of Sodomy ]"

and

Terry Kilgore's HB 149 Feticide; penalty bill providing "that it is homicide if any person knowingly or recklessly causes the death of a fetus, at any stage of its development, by a physical injury to the mother that would be sufficient to convict such person of homicide if the mother had died, provided that (i) the act or acts resulting in the death of the fetus were not a lawful abortion or an abortion to which the pregnant woman consented, and (ii) the person who committed the act or acts resulting in the death of the fetus was not the pregnant woman whose fetus was killed"

[Do you believe the fetus should be defined in the law as victim in the homicide statutes, regardless of the stage of prenatal development? Do you believe personhood should be legally established for a fetus even as early as a fertilized egg prior to implantation? Do you believe the fetus should be granted legal rights separate from the woman carrying the fetus? See House Bill 149/Feticide From Conception to Birth ]

and

Scott Lingamfelter's HB 161 Posting of Ten Commandments in public schools bill directing "the Board of Education, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, to develop guidelines regarding the posting of the Ten Commandments in the public schools"

and

Robert Bell's HB 544 Crimes; peeping bill "making it a Class 6 felony for a third or subsequent conviction for an offense under the peeping or spying section or for certain other misdemeanor offenses. The bill also eliminates the requirement that the third or subsequent offense occur within ten years of the conviction of the predicate offenses"

[What do you think about Rob Bell's new initiative? See Rob Bell Crackdown on Voyeurs and Exhibitionists and Jeff Fracher Comments on Legal Penalties for Voyeurs and Exhibitionists" and Linda Martin's letter Supporting Increased Sanctions for Exhibitionism and Voyeurism ]

and

HB543 Work release; home/electronic incarceration bill eliminating "the authority of a jail administrator to assign a person to a work release or home/electronic incarceration program. The court and the sheriff would retain their authority to make such assignments"

and

Jerrauld Jones HJ 16 Constitutional amendment; restoration of civil rights bill authorizing "the General Assembly to provide by law, or establish a process by law, for the restoration of civil rights for felons who meet the conditions prescribed by law"

and

HJ 17 Constitutional amendment; restoration of civil rights by operation law bill providing "that the General Assembly shall provide for the restoration of civil rights by operation of law to any person who has been convicted of a non-violent felony, as defined by law, and who has completed service of sentence and any modification of sentence, including probation, parole, and suspension of sentence."

Since January 14th, the House Courts of Justice Committee has received

Delegate Kathy Byron's House Bill 563 which "adds to the conscience clause provision in the Code of Virginia a new provision that includes any physician, pharmacist or nurse who is asked "to dispense any birth-control pill or other medicine" for the purpose of performing an abortion. Delegate Byron appears to be trying to suggest that birth control pills, including emergency contraception, causes abortions and wants to assure that certain health professionals aren't required to dispense them" (Ben Greenberg, electronic mail, January 15, 2002)

and

Delegate Richard Black's House Bill 600 which "states that any provision in surrogacy contracts that require or encourage the surrogate to abort a fetus, under any circumstance, is "void ab initio" " (Ben Greenberg, electronic mail, January 15, 2002)

and

his House Bill 601 which "requires a physician to obtain parental consent before performing an abortion on an unemancipated minor. The current law only requires that the minor's parents be notified. The bill continues the current judicial bypass procedure option for the minor" (Ben Greenberg, electronic mail, January 15, 2002)

and

Delegate Marshall's House Bill 1154 which is referred to as "medically induced infanticide" "to create a class 4 felony for any person who intentionally delivers "a living fetus or a substantial portion thereof into the vagina" with a procedure that "the person knows will directly kill the fetus" and then performs the procedure" (Ben Greenberg, electronic mail, January 15, 2002).