2024 Priority Legislation

of the Virginia Grassroots Coalition

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Passed House & Senate

Vetoed

Approved by Gov

Gov made recommendations

Cat	Number	Title	Patron	House	Senate	GA	Governor	updated
2024 Priority Bills Justice Reform
justice	HB 267 Support	Arrest/prosecution of individual experiencing mental health emerg.; assault against law enforcement. more... Provides that no individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for an assault or assault and battery against a law-enforcement officer if at the time of the assault or assault and battery (i) the individual (a) is experiencing a mental health emergency or (b) meets the criteria for issuance of an emergency custody order and (ii) the law-enforcement officer subject to the assault or assault and battery was responding to a call for service requesting assistance for such individual. ...	Watts (D)	Passed (56-Y 42-N)	Passed w substitute (20-Y 19-N)	CC Report Accepted by Senate (21-Y 19-N)	Vetoed 3/27/23	4/2/24
justice	HB 555 Support	Corrections Ombudsman, Office of the Department of; created, report. more... Creates, within the Office of the State Inspector General, the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (the Office) headed by an Ombudsman who is selected by a Corrections Oversight Committee (the Committee), also created by the bill.	Hope (D)	Passed (98-Y-0-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
justice	HB 834 Support	Petition for modification of sentence; eligibility, procedures. more... Provides a process for a person serving a sentence for any conviction or a combination of any convictions who remains incarcerated in a state or local correctional facility or secure facility and meets certain criteria to petition the circuit court that entered the original judgment or order to (i) suspend the unserved portion of such sentence or run the unserved portion of such sentence concurrently with another sentence, (ii) place such person on probation for such time as the court shall determine, or (iii) otherwise modify the sentence imposed.	Cousins (D)	Left Appropriations				2/13/24
justice	HB 920 Support	License plate readers; penalties. more... Provides requirements for the use of license plate readers, defined in the bill, by law-enforcement agencies. The bill requires such agencies to enter into an agreement with the license plate reader owner or other responsible non-law-enforcement entity to operate a data trust, defined in the bill, to store the data collected by a license plate reader and requires any such law-enforcement agency to apply to the data trust for access to such data. The bill limits the use of license plate readers to scanning, detecting, and identifying license plate numbers for the purpose of identifying vehicles involved in certain crimes.	Shin (D)	Continued to 2025				2/8/24
justice	HJ 38 Support	Study; JLARC; scope and cost of penalizing possession of drugs as a felony. more... Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the scope and cost of the current laws in the Commonwealth penalizing possession of drugs as a felony.	Cousins (D)	Tabled Rules sub: Studies				1/31/24
justice	SB 334 Support	Plea agreements; prohibited provisions. more... Prohibits plea agreements from containing any provision that purports to waive, release, or extinguish a defendant's (i) rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution of Virginia; (ii) right to file a petition requesting expungement of the police records and the court records; or (iii) right to have criminal history record information and court records sealed. ...	Salim (D)	Passed (51-Y 49-N)	Passed (21-Y-19-N)	Enrolled	Vetoed 03/20/24	3/22/24
justice	SB 357 Support	Assault and battery of a law-enforcement officer; penalty. more... Reduces the penalty for assault and battery of a law-enforcement officer from a Class 6 felony to a Class 1 misdemeanor and reduces the mandatory minimum term of confinement from six months to 10 days. The bill also specifies that a person must commit assault and battery that results in bodily injury to be guilty of the enhanced offense. ...	Boysko (D)	Passed (49-Y 48-N)	Passed (21-Y 19-N)	Enrolled	Vetoed 3/27/24	4/3/24
justice	SB 427 Support	Petition for modification of a sentence; eligibility; procedures. more... Provides a process for a person serving a sentence for any conviction or a combination of any convictions who remains incarcerated in a state or local correctional facility or secure facility and meets certain criteria to petition the circuit court that entered the original judgment or order to (i) suspend the unserved portion of such sentence or run the unserved portion of such sentence concurrently with another sentence, (ii) place such person on probation for such time as the court shall determine, or (iii) otherwise modify the sentence imposed.	Deeds (D)	Continued Continued to 2025	Passed (21-Y 19-N)			2/29/24
justice	SB 456 Support	Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman; created. more... Creates, within the Office of the State Inspector General, the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (the Office) headed by an Ombudsman who is selected by a Corrections Oversight Committee (the Committee), also created by the bill. The bill provides that the Committee is made up of four members of the General Assembly and 11 nonlegislative citizen members who monitor the activities of the Ombudsman and the Department of Corrections (the Department). ...	Marsden (D)	Passed (97-Y 0-N)	Passed (37-Y-2-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
justice	SB 539 Support	License plate readers; penalties. more... Provides requirements for the use of license plate readers, defined in the bill, by law-enforcement agencies. The bill requires such agencies to enter into an agreement with the license plate reader owners or other responsible non-law-enforcement entity to operate a data trust, defined in the bill, to store the data collected by a license plate reader and requires any such law-enforcement agency to apply to the data trust for access to such data. The bill limits the use of license plate readers to scanning, detecting, and identifying license plate numbers for the purpose of identifying vehicles involved in certain crimes.	Bagby (D)		Left Courts of Justice			2/13/24
justice	SJ 26 Support	Study; JLARC; scope and cost of penalizing possession of drugs as a felony. more... Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the scope and cost of the current laws in the Commonwealth penalizing possession of drugs as a felony.	Pekarsky (D)	Continued to 2025	Passed (22-Y 18-N)			2/23/24

No. of bills: 11

General info

2024 Session dates

Jan 10: Session begins
Jan 19: Last day to introduce bills
Feb 13: Crossover*
Mar 7: Last day to act on remaining bills
Mar 9: Session adjourns
April 17-24: Reconvened session

House Meeting Schedule
Senate Meeting Schedule

Overriding a Veto

"The Governor may veto the bill if he objects to it by returning the bill with his objections to the house in which the bill originated. The house shall enter the objections in its journal and reconsider the bill. The house may override the veto by a two-thirds vote of the members present, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the members elected to that house. If the house of origin overrides the Governor's veto, it shall send the bill and Governor's objections to the other house where the bill shall be reconsidered. The second house may override the Governor's veto by a two-thirds vote of the members present, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the members elected to that house. If both houses override the Governor's veto, the bill shall become law without his signature. If either house fails to override the Governor's veto, the veto shall stand and the bill shall not become law." -Virginia Constitution

Constitutional Amendments

Amendments to the Virginia Constitution require that a resolution be passed by a majority of both houses during a session and then held over to be passed again by the next elected legislature, with an election intervening between the two approvals. If it succeeds the second time, voters must approve the change in a referendum before it can take effect.

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