2011 Annual Report - Virginia Attorney General

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2011 REPORT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
elimination of public nuisances exist on the property. Lastly, this amendment shifts
the burden to the condemnor to prove that the use is public.
Additionally, the Office of the Attorney General led the efforts to improve
current eminent domain statutes. This measure requires condemnors of property to
provide all appraisals obtained prior to making an offer to owners of condemned
property. This measure additionally strengthened the opportunity of landowners to
buy back property that was taken for a public use but was subsequently not needed for
a public use project.
This Office also worked closely with legislators and others to address various
measures to protect seniors and the disabled from abuse and neglect. The Office of
the Attorney General led the efforts to permit this Office to investigate complaints of
abuse of person in the care of others who receive payments for medical assistance
under the state plan for medical assistance, regardless if the patient is the actual
recipient of those funds. Another successful legislative effort was aimed at protecting
tax dollars used by Medicaid. This measure requires the court to order restitution to
be made to the Department of Medical Assistance Services for any loss caused by a
felony conviction of making a false statement or representation in application for
payment under Medicaid.
The Office of the Attorney General was also proud to be part of the bipartisan
effort to improve veteran services in Virginia. This office assisted in various new
benefit programs for Virginia veterans, including in-state tuition for spouses of
service members and veterans, a special hunting permit for partially disabled
veterans, consideration of military experiences for licensure or certification with the
Board of Medicine and Board of Nursing, and improvements to the staff-to-veteran
ratio at the Virginia Department of Veteran Services. Additionally, we proudly
supported the creation of the cabinet level Secretary of Veterans Affairs and
Homeland Security. It is important to the Office of the Attorney General that Virginia
is the veteran friendly.
Finally, this Office was proud to work with the General Assembly on numerous
initiatives to improve the safety of Virginians. One such law continued and expanded
the Address Confidentiality Program to all jurisdictions in the Commonwealth. This
program allows victims of domestic violence added protection to themselves and
children. Another law improves the protective order statutes by expanding the criteria
by which non-family or non-household members can petition for a protective order
and allows that any person who has been subjected to an act of violence, force, or
threat can petition a district or circuit court for a protective order. Further, this office
worked with bipartisan support on a bill that would provide minimum standards for
facilities in which five or more first trimester abortions are performed per month.
This bill further required the Board of Health to promulgate regulations containing
these standards.
OPINIONS SECTION
The Opinions Section processes and manages requests made pursuant to § 2.2-
505 for official opinions of the Attorney General as well as conflict of interests
opinions for state government officers and employees and members of the General
Assembly. The Section also handles confidential informal opinions that are issued by