A BILL to amend and reenact § 18.2-60 of the Code of Virginia, relating to oral threat to kill or to do bodily harm; employees of local or state department of social services; penalty.
HB1159 would amend Virginia’s threats statute, § 18.2-60, to add employees and call-center contractors of the Department of Social Services, including local and state DSS personnel, to the list of protected victims for oral threats to kill or do bodily harm. Under the bill, a person who orally threatens a DSS employee or contractor while that person is engaged in official duties would commit a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also restates and organizes existing provisions covering threats against school employees and health care providers, while leaving in place the broader felony provisions for written or electronically transmitted threats, school-related threats, and terroristic threats.
The measure is aimed at expanding criminal penalties for threats directed at social services workers, reflecting concern about harassment or intimidation of public-facing government employees. It does not create a new offense category so much as extend an existing misdemeanor threat offense to a new class of workers. The bill would therefore broaden the scope of protected persons under Virginia criminal law and give prosecutors another tool when threats are made against DSS staff in the course of their duties.
If enacted, HB1159 would amend § 18.2-60 of the Code of Virginia by adding DSS employees and contractors to the statute’s list of persons protected from oral threats. This would make oral threats to kill or do bodily injury against those workers, when made during the performance of their duties, punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill would also leave intact the statute’s existing felony and misdemeanor penalties for written threats, school threats, and threats against health care providers, while clarifying venue for prosecution in the locality where the threat was made or received.
No committee transcript or vote record is available, so there is no direct evidence of debate or recorded support/opposition. Based on the bill’s text, the measure appears to be a targeted public-safety and worker-protection bill, likely intended to address threats faced by social services personnel. Its referral and subsequent status of being left in the House Committee on Courts of Justice suggest it did not advance, but the available record does not show whether that was due to substantive disagreement, scheduling, or other legislative priorities.
The main policy question is whether DSS employees and contractors should receive the same explicit criminal-law protection from oral threats already afforded to school employees and health care providers. Supporters would likely frame the bill as necessary to protect frontline social workers who handle emotionally charged cases and may face intimidation. Potential concerns could include whether the existing threats statute already covers such conduct, whether expanding protected categories is the best response, and how broadly the new language might apply to contractors and call-center staff. No specific opposition is documented in the available materials.