Virginia House Bill 579 (Prior Session Legislation)

---

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)
Status: Introduced on January 11 2022 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2022-02-15 - Left in Courts of Justice
Pending: House Courts of Justice Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Prefiled) [HTML]

Victims of human trafficking; affirmative defense; writ of vacatur. Expands the definition of qualifying offense for the purposes of the issuance of a writ of vacatur for victims of commercial sex trafficking and the affirmative defense available to victims of sex trafficking to include a number of additional offenses enumerated in the bill. Current law only allows the issuance of such writ of vacatur or the use of such affirmative defense for convictions and adjudications of delinquency or charges for prostitution and keeping, residing in, or frequenting a bawdy place. The bill also changes the term "victim of sex trafficking" to "victim of human trafficking" as used in reference to such writ of vacatur and affirmative defense and adds to the definition of "victim of human trafficking" any person subjected to human trafficking, as defined in the bill, and any person who committed such offense while younger than 18 years of age. For the purposes of the issuance of the writ of vacatur, the bill also provides that there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a petitioner is a victim of human trafficking if the petitioner provides official government documentation of the petitioner's status as a victim of human trafficking at the time of the qualifying offense. The bill also states that a petitioner for a writ of vacatur shall not be required to pay any fees or costs for filing such petition if the petitioner is found to be unable to pay fees or costs.

Victims of human trafficking; expands definition, affirmative defense, writ of vacatur.

Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler [D]	Del. John Avoli [R]	Del. Nadarius Clark [D]	Del. Kaye Kory [D]
Del. Michelle Maldonado [D]	Del. Irene Shin [D]	Del. Shelly Simonds [D]

2022-02-02 - House - House: Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (8-Y 0-N) (Y: 8 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2022-02-15	House	Left in Courts of Justice
2022-02-02	House	Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (8-Y 0-N)
2022-02-01	House	Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1
2022-01-11	House	Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
2022-01-11	House	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103923D

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
18	2	361.1	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	327.15	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	327.17	(n/a)	See Bill Text
19	2	327.18	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB579
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB579+hil
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+vot+H0801V0329+HB0579