Virginia House Bill 298 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: Introduced on December 31 2013 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2014-02-12 - Left in Courts of Justice
Pending: House Courts of Justice Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Prefiled) [HTML]

Involuntary commitment and restoration of firearm rights. Responds to the holding in Paugh v. Henrico Area Mental Health and Developmental Services, Record No. 121562 (2013), in which the Virginia Supreme Court held that on appeal by trial de novo in circuit court of an order of involuntary commitment by a district court, upon the circuit court's finding that the appellant no longer meets the criteria for involuntary commitment, the proper remedy is dismissal of the Commonwealth's petition for involuntary commitment, thereby rendering the original commitment order a nullity. As such, because the original petition would in effect never have existed, forfeiture of the right to possess a firearm as required by §18.2-308.1:3 upon involuntary commitment would no longer be in effect. Section 18.2-308.1:3 requires that a person who has been involuntarily committed and seeks to have his firearm rights restored petition a district court for restoration of his firearm rights. The ruling in Paugh, by requiring dismissal of the original petition for commitment, removes that requirement even though on the date of the original commitment hearing the person did meet the criteria for commitment and was, in fact, involuntarily committed. The bill provides that notwithstanding the outcome of any appeal (trial de novo on the petition for commitment) taken pursuant to §37.2-821, the appellant shall be required to seek restoration of his firearm rights. The bill also provides that upon a finding by the circuit court that the appellant no longer meets the criteria for involuntary commitment (or mandatory outpatient treatment), the court shall reverse the order of the district court but shall not dismiss the Commonwealth's petition. As a consequence of these changes, a person who is involuntarily committed would be required to petition for restoration of his firearm rights notwithstanding the reversal of the commitment order by a circuit court.

Firearm possession; involuntary commitment and restoration of rights.

Del. George Loupassi [R]

Date	Chamber	Action
2014-02-12	House	Left in Courts of Justice
2014-02-05	House	Subcommittee recommends laying on the table by voice vote
2014-01-10	House	Assigned Courts sub: Criminal
2013-12-31	House	Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
2013-12-31	House	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/14 14100114D

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
18	2	308.1:3	(n/a)	See Bill Text
37	2	821	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+sum+HB298
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HB298+hil