Each year during the General Assembly session, the ACLU of Virginia works to support legislation that expands or protects our civil liberties and fights against bills that infringe on our freedoms. The ACLU of Virginia tracks hundreds of bills each session.
The tragic murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Marcus-David Peters, and the recent protests across the country, show there is an urgent need for fundamental change in policing. We must reimagine and transform the role of police in our society and invest in prevention over punishment.
The following report on our priority legislation and bills we supported shows the groundbreaking impact this session will have on Virginia, as well as the work still left to do.
Crossover for the 2020 General Assembly session was midnight on Feb. 11. Crossover in the General Assembly is the last day for bills to be heard in the House of Delegates and the Senate before they cross over to the opposite chamber and start the process all over again.
The 2020 General Assembly session convened Wednesday, Jan. 8 , 2020 for a 60-day session.
The 2019 General Assembly session will convene Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019 for a 45-day session.
The ACLU of Virginia strongly supports restoring the presumption of innocence to our criminal justice system. We must end the practice of holding people in jail who have not been convicted of a crime and are not a demonstrable risk to public safety.