Sen. Mamie Locke

Celebrating the life of Gilbert K. Davis.

Commending Healthy Families Newport News.

Celebrating the life of Zia Hasan Hashmi, Ph.D.

Celebrating the life of William Alexander Franklin,Jr., M.D.

Commending Virginia Housing.

Commending Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture.

Constitutional amendment (voter referendum);qualifications of voters and the right to vote; persons not entitledto vote. Provides for a referendum at the November 8, 2022, generalelection to approve or reject an amendment that would provide forthe fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, revise the qualificationsof voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitledto vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically investedwith the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and updatethe existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentallyincompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lackthe capacity to understand the act of voting.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia;statewide strategic plan; report. Endorses the framework of mission,vision, goals, and strategies for the statewide strategic plan forhigher education developed and approved by the State Council of HigherEducation for Virginia (SCHEV) as the Commonwealth's vision and planfor higher education and requires SCHEV to report annually for sixyears on the Commonwealth's progress toward achieving the plan'sgoals to the Governor, the General Assembly, institutions of highereducation, and the public.

Constitutional amendment (second reference); qualifications of voters and the right to vote; persons not entitled to vote. Provides that every person who meets the qualifications of voters set forth in the Constitution shall have the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth and that such right shall not be abridged by law, except for persons who have been convicted of a felony and persons who have been adjudicated to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting. A person who has been convicted of a felony shall not be entitled to vote during any period of incarceration for such felony conviction but upon release from incarceration for that felony conviction and without further action required of him, such person shall be invested with all political rights, including the right to vote. Currently, in order to be qualified to vote a person convicted of a felony must have his civil rights restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. The amendment also provides that a person adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction as lacking the capacity to understand the act of voting shall not be entitled to vote during this period of incapacity until his capacity has been reestablished as prescribed by law. Currently, the Constitution provides that a person who has been adjudicated to be mentally incompetent is not qualified to vote until his competency is reestablished.

Voter registration; restoration of political rights upon release from incarceration; certain adjudications. Provides that any person who is convicted of a felony and sentenced to a period of incarceration for such felony conviction is not entitled to register to vote or to vote for the duration of the period of incarceration, but that he is to be invested with all political rights lost as a result of the felony conviction upon release from incarceration and is thereafter entitled to register to vote. The bill requires the Department of Corrections and the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to transmit to the Department of Elections certain information related to an incarcerated person with a scheduled date of release. The bill also requires the Director of the Department of Corrections to provide to any person being released from incarceration, on the date of his release, (i) an application to register to vote with instructions for returning the application by mail; (ii) information regarding how to register to vote by electronic means or in person, in the form prescribed by the State Board of Elections for this purpose; and (iii) an official release document for voter registration purposes. Enactment of the provisions of this bill are contingent upon the passage of an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2022 providing for the qualifications of voters and the right to vote by amending Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia related to persons convicted of a felony and persons adjudicated as lacking the capacity to understand the act of voting.