Our bill has been signed by the Speaker and the President!

Great news! Our bill has been signed by the President and the Speaker... what does this mean? The next step is for our bill to be placed on Governor McDonnell's desk for his signature and then it will be a law! I am so excited about our bill. It was definitely a learning experience and we didn't get exactly what we asked for, but we did get something that's extremely important and that's the forfeiture of all assets of the abductor in international child abduction cases.

Of course the success of this law will depend on interpretation and whether it can be enforced as intended. But below is the journey our bill has taken to get where it is:

01/12/11 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/11 11102905D
01/12/11 House: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/21/11 House: Assigned Courts sub: #2 Civil
01/26/11 House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 0-N)
01/31/11 House: Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N)
01/31/11 House: Committee substitute printed 11104760D-H1
02/02/11 House: Read first time
02/03/11 House: Read second time
02/03/11 House: Committee substitute agreed to 11104760D-H1
02/03/11 House: Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2361H1
02/04/11 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N)
02/04/11 House: VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (98-Y 0-N)
02/07/11 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed
02/07/11 Senate: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
02/09/11 Senate: Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (14-Y 0-N)
02/11/11 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
02/14/11 Senate: Read third time
02/14/11 Senate: Reading of amendments waived
02/14/11 Senate: Committee amendments agreed to
02/14/11 Senate: Engrossed by Senate as amended
02/14/11 Senate: Passed Senate with amendments (40-Y 0-N)
02/15/11 House: Placed on Calendar
02/16/11 House: Senate amendments agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N)
02/16/11 House: VOTE: ADOPTION (97-Y 0-N)
02/22/11 House: Enrolled
02/22/11 House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2361ER)
02/22/11 House: Signed by Speaker
02/23/11 Senate: Signed by President

One more step and we have a law!

Sorry I have been MIA for so long but life went and got busy on me :) Anyway, good news, actually GREAT news! It appears that our bill, HB2361 is reaching the finish line and should be signed by Governor McDonnell hopefully next week. This has definitely been a learning experience and a very interesting journey and I've enjoyed every moment of it.

It was empowering to speak before the house especially for someone like myself who still struggles with self confidence. Being in an abusive relationship can destroy a person and at one point "Brandy Charles" was destroyed... But thank God "Brandy Bond" is back and stronger than ever! Speaking of... My transformation is complete! Last week I received my social security card with the name "Brandy Mariah Bond" printed on it. To some that might sound insignificant, but when your stripped of your identity by an abusive spouse, it feels great to rid yourself of the last name attached to the pain and become who you were before the abusive marriage.

Please keep your eye out for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT... :)

Our bill is on its way!

It has been a while since I posted, but life became busy all of a sudden with classes starting and my ongoing legal battles. My latest battle is trying to make sure that my rights in the discovery process are not violated. It's situations like these that propose the biggest challenge for a pro se litigate. Despite the law being written "for the people", it can most often only be interpreted by attorneys. Unfortunately, when you don't have money, as I don't, all one can do is cross their fingers and interpret it the best they can. But enough about that. OUR BILL IS ON ITS WAY TO BEING PASSED!

SENATE HISTORY:

01/12/11 Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/11 11101219D
01/12/11 Senate: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/13/11 Senate: Assigned Courts sub: Civil
01/31/11 Senate: Committee substitute printed 11104839D-S1
01/31/11 Senate: Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (15-Y 0-N)
02/01/11 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
02/02/11 Senate: Read second time
02/02/11 Senate: Reading of substitute waived
02/02/11 Senate: Committee substitute agreed to 11104839D-S1
02/02/11 Senate: Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1141S1
02/03/11 Senate: Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N)

HOUSE HISTORY:

01/12/11 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/11 11102905D
01/12/11 House: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/21/11 House: Assigned Courts sub: #2 Civil
01/26/11 House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 0-N)
01/31/11 House: Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N)
01/31/11 House: Committee substitute printed 11104760D-H1
02/02/11 House: Read first time
02/03/11 House: Read second time
02/03/11 House: Committee substitute agreed to 11104760D-H1
02/03/11 House: Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2361H1
02/04/11 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N)
02/04/11 House: VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (98-Y 0-N)


So as you can see... It's definitely on its way!