The VLW Blog

Once again, the House and Senate have put off judicial elections for a day as budget negotiations continue.
Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, said discussions continue with the Senate.
“They are doing their best to work out an agreement to proceed. We want to give them that time,” he told the House.
Judicial elections now are officially delayed until [...]

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Both the Virginia House and Senate agreed to delay election of judges until Thursday as budget wrangling continues.
The schedule for the General Assembly session required a vote on an extension of time if agreement was not reached on the filling of judicial vacancies by today.
Explaining the delay, Sen. Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, said there was concern [...]

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The number of lawyers in the General Assembly continues to decline, and the president of the Virginia State Bar is urging attorneys to help change the trend.
Only14 of the 40 Senators and 25 out of 100 Delegates are lawyers, according to the Assembly’s clerks’ offices. Combining the numbers, about 28 percent of the state legislators [...]

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The joint House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees will meet this afternoon to conduct interviews of judicial candidates. In addition to the nine candidates for the vacancy in the Virginia Court of Appeals created by the retirement of Judge James W. Haley Jr., candidates for a long list of vacancies and potential vacancies will [...]

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The Senate Courts of Justice Committee this morning killed a bill aimed at curtailing a judge’s ability to defer judgment in a criminal case.
Subscribers can read the full story here.

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The House Courts committee has killed a bill designed to keep evidence in district court civil cases from the eyes of circuit judges hearing the cases on appeal.
House Bill 284 took aim at circuit judges inclined to prejudge a district court case before hearing the evidence in new proceedings. When a lower court decision was [...]

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Two measures designed to curb the cash flow from enforcement of local laws aimed at errant drivers have run out of gas at the General Assembly.
Senate Bill 500, sponsored by Sen. John Watkins, R-Midlothian, would have prohibited the use of local traffic laws on Interstate highways. The bill appeared to target operations of the Hopewell [...]

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A bill that would outlaw Virginia noncompete agreements is dead in the House of Delegates.
House Bill 1187, introduced by Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, would have banned contracts restricting former employees from engaging in any lawful profession, trade or business. The bill spelled out exceptions for the sale of a business and for business organizers.
A House [...]

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After passing the full Senate Feb. 6, legislation to adopt Rules of Evidence for Virginia today moved from a subcommittee to the full House Courts of Justice committee.
Some subcommittee members had doubts on Monday, and the subcommittee retooled the measure to firm up legislative control of the process for changing the rules over time [...]

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The House Courts of Justice committee on Friday voted 11-to-4 to report legislation designed to eliminate judges’ discretion to delay findings of guilt in many criminal cases.
House Bill 750, sponsored by Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, would bar deferred disposition in any case where the facts would justify a finding of guilt unless the prosecutor agrees.
Cline [...]

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