Criminal Justice

Court Date Reminder Program established. Establishes a Court Date Reminder Program, to be developed or procured by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, for the purpose of reminding criminal defendants to appear at each of their scheduled court appearances. The bill directs the Program to send a text message notification to any defendant with a criminal case in general district court or circuit court for whom the court has a telephone number prior to any scheduled hearing that requires his appearance and allows a defendant to opt out of participating in the Program. The Program has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.The bill also directs the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to convene a Court Date Reminder Program work group to advise on the implementation and expansion of the Program and submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Chairs of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice by December 1, 2026.

Limitation on prosecution of felony due to lapse of time after finding of probable cause; misdemeanors; exceptions; retaining counsel. Provides that the speedy trial statute is tolled for the accused to retain private counsel or have counsel appointed to him pursuant to relevant law. The bill requires the court to conduct, not more than 30 days apart, reviews of the accused's attorney status and provides that such tolling shall end when the accused has either retained counsel or had counsel appointed to him and such counsel has entered an appearance in the case or the accused executes a valid waiver of counsel. Lastly, the bill provides that such provisions shall not be construed as ending the tolling of speedy trial for any other reason pursuant to relevant law.

Domestic and Sexual Assault Conviction Database. Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish a Domestic and Sexual Assault Conviction Database that will include information about persons who were convicted of certain offenses against a family or household member, as defined in relevant law, or an intimate partner, defined in the bill. The bill specifies that the Database will be available to the public on the Department of State Police's website. The bill provides that any person whose information is on the Database may petition for removal of such information from the Database if certain requirements are met and that the State Police shall include such petition information on the Database website. Under the bill, the Superintendent of State Police is required to complete the Database by July 1, 2027.

Human trafficking digital identification and reporting platforms; duties of Human Trafficking Response Coordinator; quarterly reports. Creates a process for the use of digital identification and reporting platforms, defined in the bill, to report suspected instances of human trafficking. The bill requires the Human Trafficking Response Coordinator to certify such platforms and requires the administering organization, defined in the bill, of such platform to submit quarterly performance reports to the Coordinator and the General Assembly on certain data. The bill expands the use of funds from the existing Virginia Prevention of Sex Trafficking Fund to be utilized for such programs. Lastly, the bill states that the provisions of the bill are subject to the availability of funds appropriated for such purposes.

State correctional facilities; visitation privileges; Visitation Enhancement Program established. Establishes the Visitation Enhancement Program (the Program) and requires all state correctional facilities to participate in the Program and provide visitation privileges to inmates in accordance with the standards specified in the bill. The bill provides that all inmates in state correctional facilities shall be classified within one of three phases of the Program, which shall be based on the class level at which the inmate earns good time such as good conduct time, good conduct allowances, or earned sentence credits. The bill specifies certain enhanced visitation privileges permitted for each of the three phases of the Program. The bill also requires visitors be permitted to visit an inmate for at least two hours prior to a visit being terminated due to capacity issues and provides that if the visitation area is at maximum capacity, state correctional facility staff shall ask visitors, on a voluntary basis, to end their visit. The bill states that if a sufficient number of visitors fail to volunteer, staff shall terminate visits, beginning with the first visitors processed, until the required seating or space is available for incoming visitors.

Department of Criminal Justice Services; law-enforcement agencies and sheriff's departments; policy on use of covered artificial intelligence systems. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish a model policy for the use of a covered artificial intelligence system, defined in the bill, by any state or local law-enforcement agency or sheriff's department by October 1, 2026. The bill also requires each local law-enforcement agency and sheriff's department and the Department of State Police to establish and adopt a written policy for the use of a covered AI system by such agency or department that meets or exceeds the model policy established by the Department of Criminal Justice Services by January 1, 2027. The bill requires such policies be publicly available on the law-enforcement agency's or sheriff's department's website.