2024 ELECTIONS VOLUNTEER Early Voting Shop

2023 Priority Legislation

of the Virginia Grassroots Coalition

★ Hover over "Committee" to see name of committee; CLICK to see Comm. Members.
★ CLICK "more" to learn more about the bill.

Cat	Number	Title	Patron	House	Senate	updated
2023 Priority Bills Justice Reform
justice	HB 1365 Oppose	Admission to bail; rebuttable presumptions against bail. more... Creates a rebuttable presumption against bail for certain criminal offenses enumerated in the bill and for persons identified as being illegally present in the United States by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who are charged with certain offenses. The bill also requires the court to consider specified factors when determining whether the presumption against bail has been rebutted and whether there are appropriate conditions of release.	Wren M. Williams (R-HD9)	Passed	PBI	2/13/23
justice	HB 1380 Oppose	Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses. more... Removes the provisions that provide that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) without a light illuminating a license plate, (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment, (iii) without brake lights or a high mount stop light, (iv) without an exhaust system that prevents excessive or unusual levels of noise, (v) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, and (vi) with certain objects suspended in the vehicle, and the accompanying the exclusionary provisions.	Ronnie R. Campbell (deceased)	Passed	PBI	2/13/23
justice	HB 1401 Oppose	Community Policing Act; repeals Act. more... Repeals the Community Policing Act that, under current law, prohibits law-enforcement officers and State Police officers from engaging in bias-based profiling in the performance of their official duties. The bill also repeals the provisions requiring the State Police to create the Community Policing Reporting Database into which sheriffs, police forces, and State Police officers report certain data pertaining to, among other law-enforcement activities, investigatory motor vehicle stops.	Marie March (R-HD7)	Failed		2/3/23
justice	HB 1445 Oppose	Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses and odor of marijuana, exclusion of evidence. more... ... The bill also authorizes a law-enforcement officer to lawfully stop, search, or seize a person, place, or thing or a search warrant to be issued based solely on the odor of marijuana if such odor creates a reasonable suspicion of a violation of the law prohibiting driving while intoxicated.	Scott A. Wyatt (R-HD97)	Incorp		1/18/23
justice	HB 1703 Oppose	Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses. more... Removes the provisions that provide that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) without a light illuminating a license plate, (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment, (iii) without brake lights or a high mount stop light, (iv) without an exhaust system that prevents excessive or unusual levels of noise, (v) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, and (vi) with certain objects suspended in the vehicle ...	Tara A. Durant (R-HD28)	Incorp		1/18/23
justice	HB 2013 Oppose	Probation, revocation, and suspension of sentence; penalty. more... Makes changes to the definition of a technical violation as it pertains to the revocation of suspension of sentence and probation...also adds the offense of crimes against nature ... to the list of offenses for which if some period of the sentence for such offense is suspended, the judge is required to order that period of suspension be for the length of time equal to the statutory maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sentenced to be imprisoned.	Les R. Adams (R-HD16)	Passed	Left	9/14/23
justice	HB 2384 Oppose	Marijuana; search and seizure; driving or operating a motor vehicle, etc., while intoxicated. more... Removes certain offenses, described in the bill, from the prohibition of searches without a search warrant for the odor of marijuana and establishes a presumption of intoxication if a person has a blood concentration equal to or greater than 0.003 milligrams of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per liter of blood. ...	Les Adams \| (R-HD16)	Passed	PBI	2/14/23
justice	SB 858 Oppose	Defendants; evidence of mental condition admissible, etc. more... Eliminates "mental illness" from the list of mental conditions for which a defendant may offer evidence to show his mental condition at the time of an alleged offense.	John Cosgrove (R-SD14)		PBI	1/19/23
justice	SB 875 Oppose	Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses. more... Removes the provisions that provide that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) without a light illuminating a license plate, (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment, (iii) without brake lights or a high mount stop light, (iv) without an exhaust system that prevents excessive or unusual levels of noise, (v) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, and (vi) with certain objects suspended in the vehicle, and the accompanying the exclusionary provisions.	Ryan McDougle (R-SD4)		PBI	2/1/23
justice	SB 877 Oppose	Admission to bail; act of violence. more... Provides that a magistrate shall not admit a person to bail who is charged with an act of violence without the consent of the attorney for the Commonwealth for the jurisdiction in which the case it filed.	Ryan McDougle (R-SD4)		PBI	2/1/23
justice	SB 1010 Oppose	Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses. more... Removes the provisions that provide that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) without a light illuminating a license plate, (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment, (iii) without brake lights or a high mount stop light, (iv) without an exhaust system that prevents excessive or unusual levels of noise, (v) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, and (vi) with certain objects suspended in the vehicle, and the accompanying the exclusionary provisions.	Bill DeSteph (R-SD8)		Incorp	2/1/23
justice	SB 1229 Oppose	SB 1229 Admission to bail; creates rebuttable presumptions against bail. more... Creates a rebuttable presumption against bail for certain criminal offenses enumerated in the bill. The bill also requires the court to consider specified factors when determining whether the presumption against bail has been rebutted and whether there are appropriate conditions of release.	Mark Obenshain \| (R-SD26)		Failed	2/1/23

No. of bills: 12

Note: The Rules Committees of both Chambers have limited the number of bills that individual members may introduce this Session: Senators have bill limits of 26, and Delegates have bill limits of 15.

General info

Introduced Bills by subject

Education bills

Continued from last session

2023 Session dates

Dec 12: Bills available
Jan 11: Session begins
Feb 8: Crossover*
Feb 15: Budget conferees named

Glossary

Dillon Rule. Restricts local government authority to enact ordinances.

Conference Committee. A temporary committee w. members from both the House and Senate, tasked with reconciling differences in legislation that passed both chambers.

Continued/Carried over. Action taken in an even-numbered year to postpone the consideration of a measure until the next regular session of the General Assembly.

Crossover. The last day for a bill to pass out of the chamber in which it was introduced and move forward for consideration in the opposite chamber. If a bill does not move forward, it is "Left" (dead).

Engrossed. A legislative stage when a bill passes the second reading in the House of origin. Every bill has to be "read" on the floor three times before voting on it. The action or any debate or discussion usually comes on the day of the second reading or the third reading.

Enrolled. Legislation which has passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate, signed by the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate, sent to the Governor, but not yet signed.

Failed to report. Defeated. The rejection of a motion to 'report' a bill to the full chamber.

Incorporated. Rolled into someone another bill. Either because they're identical, or they have incorporated *some* of the language in, and the patron agreed to have her name on the other bill.

Patron. Bill sponsor. There can be many patrons.

PBI. Passed by Indefinitely. Action to allow a committee to reconsider legislation at a later meeting. If the committee takes no further action, the bill is dead. [Usually the bill is dead.]

Referred. The assignment of legislation to another standing committee with no stance on the policy of the measure (neither endorses nor rejects the legislation).

Reported. The approval of a measure by the majority of the committee. The legislation may be reported by the committee with or without amendments. A bill may also be reported and referred to another committee.

Stricken. Legislation removed from a committee's docket, frequently at the request of the patron.

More definitions from League of Women Voters Virginia
More definitions from University of Virginia