2025 SESSION
INTRODUCED
25100982D
HOUSE BILL NO. 2296
Offered January 8, 2025
Prefiled January 8, 2025
A BILL to amend and reenact 18.2-51.1 and 18.2-251.03 of the Code of Virginia, relating to reckless exposure of illegal fentanyl to certain persons; penalty; arrest and prosecution when experiencing or reporting overdoses.
PatronsEarley and Owen
Committee Referral Pending
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That 18.2-51.1 and 18.2-251.03 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
18.2-51.1. Malicious bodily injury or reckless exposure of fentanyl to law-enforcement officers, firefighters, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel; penalty; lesser-included offense.
A. As used in this section:
"Correctional officer" and "jail officer" mean the same as those terms are defined in 53.1-1.
"Emergency medical services personnel" means the same as that term is defined in 32.1-111.1.
"Firefighter" means the same as that term is defined in 65.2-102.
"Law-enforcement officer" means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office that is part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of the Commonwealth; any conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to 10.1-115; any conservation police officer appointed pursuant to 29.1-200; and auxiliary police officers appointed or provided for pursuant to 15.2-1731 and 15.2-1733 and auxiliary deputy sheriffs appointed pursuant to 15.2-1603.
"Search and rescue personnel" means any employee or member of a search and rescue organization that is authorized by a resolution or ordinance duly adopted by the governing body of any county, city, or town of the Commonwealth or any member of a search and rescue organization operating under a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Emergency Management.
B. If any person maliciously causes bodily injury to another by any means including the means set out in 18.2-52, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, and knowing or having reason to know that such other person is a law-enforcement officer, as defined hereinafter, firefighter, as defined in 65.2-102, search and rescue personnel as defined hereinafter, or emergency medical services personnel, as defined in 32.1-111.1 engaged in the performance of his public duties as a law-enforcement officer, firefighter, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel, such person is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than five years nor more than 30 years and, subject to subdivision (g) of 18.2-10, a fine of not more than $100,000. Upon conviction, the sentence of such person shall include a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of two years.
If any person unlawfully, but not maliciously, with the intent aforesaid, causes bodily injury to another by any means, knowing or having reason to know such other person is a law-enforcement officer, firefighter, as defined in 65.2-102, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel, engaged in the performance of his public duties as a law-enforcement officer, firefighter, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel as defined in 32.1-111.1, he is guilty of a Class 6 felony, and upon conviction, the sentence of such person shall include a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year.
C. Any person who unlawfully possesses fentanyl, including its isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and salts of isomers, as described in Schedule II of the Drug Control Act ( 54.1-3400 et seq.), in violation of 18.2-250 and recklessly exposes a law-enforcement officer, correctional officer, jail officer, firefighter, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel to such fentanyl and causes severe bodily injury, as defined in 18.2-51.4, or an overdose or to such law-enforcement officer, correctional officer, jail officer, firefighter, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
D. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the right of any person charged with a violation of this section from asserting and presenting evidence in support of any defenses to the charge that may be available under common law.
As used in this section, "law-enforcement officer" means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office that is part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of the Commonwealth; any conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to 10.1-115; any conservation police officer appointed pursuant to 29.1-200; and auxiliary police officers appointed or provided for pursuant to 15.2-1731 and 15.2-1733 and auxiliary deputy sheriffs appointed pursuant to 15.2-1603.
As used in this section, "search and rescue personnel" means any employee or member of a search and rescue organization that is authorized by a resolution or ordinance duly adopted by the governing body of any county, city, or town of the Commonwealth or any member of a search and rescue organization operating under a memorandum of understanding with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
E. The provisions of 18.2-51 shall be deemed to provide a lesser-included offense hereof.
18.2-251.03. Arrest and prosecution when experiencing or reporting overdoses.
A. For purposes of this section, "overdose" means a life-threatening condition resulting from the consumption or use of a controlled substance, alcohol, or any combination of such substances.
B. No individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for the unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol pursuant to 4.1-305, unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of marijuana pursuant to 4.1-1105.1, reckless exposure of fentanyl pursuant to subsection C of 18.2-51.1, possession of a controlled substance pursuant to 18.2-250, intoxication in public pursuant to 18.2-388, or possession of controlled paraphernalia pursuant to 54.1-3466 if:
1. Such individual (i) in good faith, seeks or obtains emergency medical attention (a) for himself, if he is experiencing an overdose, or (b) for another individual, if such other individual is experiencing an overdose; (ii) is experiencing an overdose and another individual, in good faith, seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for such individual, by contemporaneously reporting such overdose to a firefighter, as defined in 65.2-102, emergency medical services personnel, as defined in 32.1-111.1, a law-enforcement officer, as defined in 9.1-101, or an emergency 911 system; or (iii) in good faith, renders emergency care or assistance, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or the administration of naloxone or other opioid antagonist for overdose reversal, to an individual experiencing an overdose while another individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention in accordance with this subdivision;
2. Such individual remains at the scene of the overdose or at any alternative location to which he or the person requiring emergency medical attention has been transported until a law-enforcement officer responds to the report of an overdose. If no law-enforcement officer is present at the scene of the overdose or at the alternative location, then such individual shall cooperate with law enforcement as otherwise set forth herein;
3. Such individual identifies himself to the law-enforcement officer who responds to the report of the overdose; and
4. The evidence for the prosecution of an offense enumerated in this subsection was obtained as a result of the individual seeking or obtaining emergency medical attention or rendering emergency care or assistance.
C. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for himself or another individual, to a person experiencing an overdose when another individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for him, or to a person who renders emergency care or assistance to an individual experiencing an overdose while another person seeks or obtains emergency medical attention during the execution of a search warrant or during the conduct of a lawful search or a lawful arrest.
D. This section does not establish protection from arrest or prosecution for any individual or offense other than those listed in subsection B.
E. No law-enforcement officer acting in good faith shall be found liable for false arrest if it is later determined that the person arrested was immune from prosecution under this section.
2. That the provisions of this act may result in a net increase in periods of imprisonment or commitment. Pursuant to 30-19.1:4 of the Code of Virginia, the estimated amount of the necessary appropriation cannot be determined for periods of imprisonment in state adult correctional facilities; therefore, Chapter 2 of the Acts of Assembly of 2024, Special Session I, requires the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission to assign a minimum fiscal impact of $50,000. Pursuant to 30-19.1:4 of the Code of Virginia, the estimated amount of the necessary appropriation cannot be determined for periods of commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.