​PENDING BILLS

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HB2105 Local correctional facilities; investigation of acts of violence; designated local law-enforcement agency.

Introduced by Hillary Pugh Kent [D]

View the bill here.

Requires the sheriff, jail superintendent or other jail administrator, or other person in charge of a local correctional facility to designate a local law-enforcement agency to have the duty and authority to investigate any act of violence that occurs within a local correctional facility. The bill requires the sheriff, jail superintendent or other jail administrator, or other person in charge of a local correctional facility to enter into a memorandum of understanding with such designated local law-enforcement agency setting forth the procedures for the investigation of such acts of violence and the respective roles and responsibilities of the sheriff, jail superintendent or other jail administrator, or other person in charge of a local correctional facility and the local law-enforcement agency.

The bill also requires the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to establish policies and procedures for sheriffs, jail superintendents or other jail administrators, or other persons in charge of a local correctional facility to designate such local law-enforcement agencies and enter into such memorandums of understanding.

1/14/2025HouseAssigned PS sub: Public Safety

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HB2467 State Board of Local and Regional Jails; oversight of local and regional jails; powers and duties.
Introduced by: Rozia A. Henson, Jr.[ D]
View the bill here.
State Board of Local and Regional Jails; oversight of local and regional jails; powers and duties. Increases from 11 to 19 the membership of the State Board of Local and Regional Jails (the Board) by requiring the appointment of (i) two members of the Senate and two members of the House of Delegates and (ii) four additional nonlegislative citizen members, including (a) one representative of a nonprofit organization that provides training or rehabilitation programs for incarcerated inmates; (b) one male citizen and one female citizen who were formerly incarcerated within the Commonwealth; and (c) one person who is a grandparent, parent, child, sibling, or spouse or domestic partner of a person currently incarcerated within the Commonwealth.
The bill also adds numerous additional duties for the Board, such as to (1) provide information, as appropriate, to inmates, family members, representatives of inmates, and local, regional, and community correctional facility employees and contractors and others regarding the rights of inmates; (2) establish policies for a statewide uniform reporting system to collect and analyze data related to complaints received in or about local, regional, and community correctional facilities; (3) monitor, document, review, and report on the operation of stores and commissaries in local correctional facilities and systems for providing electronic visitation and messaging and telephone calls; and (4) review, monitor, and report and make recommendations on policies related to (A) attorney access to clients for calls and visitation; (B) access to voting for incarcerated individuals who are eligible to vote; and (C) the collection of data on suicides, suicide attempts, and self-harm in custody. The bill also specifies additional information to be included in the Board's currently required annual report to the General Assembly and the Governor and requires such report be made available to the public online.
The bill enumerates certain items for assessment that may be included in the Board's annual inspection of each local correctional facility, as required by current law, and also specifies the Board's authority and right to access such facilities, interview persons, and access certain information and documents. Upon completion of an inspection, the bill requires the Board to produce a report, including information enumerated in the bill, to be made available to the public online and to be delivered to the Governor, the Attorney General, the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, the House Committee on Public Safety, and the sheriff in charge of the local correctional facility or superintendent of the regional correctional facility.
Finally, the bill allows the Board to initiate and attempt to resolve an investigation upon its own initiative, or upon receipt of a complaint from an inmate, a family member or representative of an inmate, or a local, regional, or community correctional facility employee or contractor, or others, regarding various concerns as enumerated in the bill.
1/8/2025    House    Committee Referral Pending

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HB2363 Department of Corrections; designated employees with same power as sheriff or law-enforcement officer.
Introduced by: Tony O. Wilt [R]

View the bill here.
Allows the Department of Corrections to designate employees to have the same power as a sheriff or a law-enforcement officer for the purpose of enforcing the criminal laws of the Commonwealth. Under current law, the Department can designate such employees with internal investigations authority to have such law-enforcement powers in the investigations of allegations of criminal behavior affecting the operations of the Department. Accordingly, the bill makes technical changes to additional sections that reference such designated employees such as in the definition of a law-enforcement officer used in various places throughout the Code and for the purposes of the Line of Duty Act, assault and battery of a law-enforcement officer, retired law-enforcement officers being able to carry a concealed handgun, and certain retired law-enforcement officers being able to purchase their service handgun or other weapon.

1/8/25 Committee Referral Pending
 

SB770 Correctional facilities, local, regional, and community; reviews of deaths of inmates, report.

Introduced by Barbara A. Favola [D]

View the bill here.

Consolidates reports made by the State Board of Local and Regional Jails related to the Board's reviews of the deaths of inmates that occur in any local, regional, or community correctional facility into one annual report to be published on the Board's website on or before July 1, 2025, and each July 1 thereafter and submitted to the Governor, the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, the House Committee on Public Safety, and the House Committee for Courts of Justice, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, and the President pro tempore of the Senate. The annual report shall include (i) a summary of the reviews of the deaths of inmates that occur in any local, regional, or community correctional facility conducted in the prior year, including any trends or similarities identified by such reviews; (ii) any recommendations for policy changes to reduce the number of inmate deaths; and (iii) any recommendations for changes to the policies and procedures for conducting reviews of the deaths of inmates to improve the operations, safety, and security of local, regional, or community correctional facilities.

12/19/2024  Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services

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