Criminal Justice

Expungement of police and court records. Permits the expungement of police and court records relating to an initial charge when a person is arrested, charged, summonsed, or indicted for the commission of an infraction, a crime, or a civil offense and such person is not ultimately convicted, provided that no stipulation of facts sufficient to find guilt was entered or the court did not determine the facts sufficient to find guilt but deferred adjudication or disposition to a later date. The bill also permits that a petition may request expungement of the police and court records for multiple charges arising out of separate transactions or occurrences. The bill also provides that if a person was the subject of a delinquency or traffic proceeding and was not ultimately adjudicated delinquent or convicted, provided that no stipulation of facts sufficient to find guilt was entered or the court did not determine facts sufficient to find guilt but deferred adjudication or disposition to a later date, such matter is eligible for expungement. Lastly, the bill (i) allows certain deferred dispositions to be eligible for expungement; (ii) requires the attorney for the Commonwealth, if he files an objection to the petition for expungement, to include the factual basis for such objection; (iii) provides that the unavailability of certain information shall not be a basis for refusing expungement; (iv) requires the court, if it finds potential manifest injustice to the petitioner, to order expungement; (v) provides that the existence of a prior conviction alone shall not be a sufficient basis to deny an expungement; (vi) allows any person whose petition for relief is the subject of an appeal to proceed under a pseudonym pursuant to relevant law; and (vii) allows specifically identified emergency or preliminary protective orders to be expunged. The bill has a delayed effective date of December 1, 2026.

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.

Loitering; unhoused persons. Prohibits any locality from discriminating against any person on the basis of actual or perceived unhoused status by imposing a civil or criminal penalty against any unhoused person, defined in the bill, of any age for engaging in life-sustaining activities in or upon any public place, including in a legally parked car in a public place, provided that such activities do not obstruct the movement of pedestrian or vehicular traffic in a manner that creates a hazard to others. Life-sustaining activities include sleeping, resting, sitting, standing, lying down, or protecting oneself from the elements.

Virginia Parole Board; powers and duties; juvenile offenders; parole procedures and considerations. Increases the members of the Virginia Parole Board (the Board) from up to five to at least 11 members, five of whom shall be appointed by the Governor within 60 days of inauguration, three of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates within 60 days of a new House being sworn in during a Senate election year, and three of whom shall be appointed by the Chair of the Senate Committee on Rules within 60 days of a new Senate being sworn in after an election, and all of whom shall be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly, if in session when such appointment is made, and if not in session, then at its next succeeding session. The bill specifies that all members of the Board shall have significant professional experience working in criminal law, corrections, reentry and community services, or victim services and that the Board members appointed by the Governor shall include (i) an attorney with significant experience in criminal prosecution; (ii) an attorney with significant experience in criminal defense; (iii) a qualified mental health professional with relevant background in adolescent development, trauma responses, psychology, and decision-making; and (iv) a representative of a crime victims organization or a victim of crime. These provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2028.The bill also requires the Board to provide a meaningful opportunity for release to certain juvenile offenders eligible for parole and specifies various factors the Board shall give substantial weight to when making a determination on whether to grant parole to such juvenile offender. The bill allows a juvenile offender to request for reconsideration or appeal of a decision by the Board not to grant parole based on (a) the Board's failure to give substantial weight to such juvenile offender's age and its related mitigating circumstances as required by the bill or (b) the Board's overreliance on static factors such as the nature and circumstances of the offense and failure to ground its decision in evidence of maturity, rehabilitation, and a lack of present danger to public safety. The bill requires the Board to provide individualized reasons for the grant or denial of parole upon reconsideration or appeal.The bill also requires that if parole is denied for any such juvenile offender, each Board member shall identify his reasoning for such decision at the time such member's vote is cast, including any youth-related factor and evidence of maturity and rehabilitation that was considered. The bill requires that the Board provide to such prisoner for whom parole is denied recommendations to demonstrate commitment to rehabilitation and at the next hearing, the Board is required to consider whether the prisoner has followed such recommendations. The bill also requires the Board to annually review the cases of such juvenile offenders eligible for parole. This bill is identical to SB 60.

Fines, costs, forfeitures, penalties, and restitution; collection fees; assessment against incarcerated defendant; deferred payment agreement. Extends from 90 days without payment to 180 days without payment the period of delinquency necessary for an account to be included on the required monthly report of delinquent accounts made by the clerk of the circuit court and district court.The bill also provides that for any defendant sentenced to an active term of incarceration and ordered to pay any fine, cost, forfeiture, or penalty related to the charge that such defendant is incarcerated for, or any other charge for which such defendant was sentenced on the same day, the court shall enter such defendant into a deferred payment agreement for such fines, costs, forfeitures, or penalties. The bill requires the due date for such deferred payment agreement to be set no earlier than the defendant's scheduled release from incarceration on the charge for which such defendant received the longest period of active incarceration. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. This bill was incorporated into SB 180.

Law-enforcement officers; restrictions on wearing of facial coverings; exceptions; penalty. Prohibits any law-enforcement officer, defined in the bill, from wearing a facial covering, defined in the bill, while engaged in the performance of his official duties. The bill sets out several exceptions to such prohibition, including protective facial coverings to protect against disease, infection, and exposure to toxic substances and facial coverings worn by any law-enforcement officer assigned to a special weapons and tactics team while engaged in the performance of his official duties with such team. The bill subjects the law-enforcement officer to disciplinary action, including dismissal, demotion, suspension, transfer, or decertification, and creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any law-enforcement officer who wears a facial covering in violation of the provisions of the bill unless the law-enforcement agency that employs such law-enforcement officer has adopted and established a written policy for and restrictions on the use of facial coverings. The bill also directs the Department of Criminal Justice Services to develop a model policy for and restrictions on the use of facial coverings by law-enforcement officers. This bill is identical to SB 352.

Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); qualifications of voters; right to vote; persons not entitled to vote. Provides for a referendum at the November 3, 2026, general election to approve or reject an amendment that would provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting. This bill is identical to SB 6.

Mass Violence Care Fund established. Creates the Mass Violence Care Fund as a subfund within the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund for the purpose of reimbursing victims or claimants of mass violence, defined in the bill, for unreimbursed medical expenses related to a mass violence event, defined in the bill. The bill directs the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission to promulgate guidelines and criteria for the payment of claims from the Mass Violence Care Fund within one year of the effective date of the bill.

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.

Virginia Opioid Use Reduction and Jail-Based Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Transition Fund; grant procedures. Requires the grant procedure to govern funds awarded to local and regional jails for the planning or operation of substance use disorder treatment services and transition services for persons with substance use disorder who are incarcerated in local and regional jails to include requirements that (i) any grant awarded shall be made for up to three years and (ii) an applicant for a grant submit a plan demonstrating how such applicant will become independently financially viable within the time period for which the grant is awarded. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care and is identical to HB 455.