We fight every day in the courts, in the legislature, and in our communities to create a Virginia for all. But we can’t do it alone.
The 2022 legislative session is officially over and if you'd like to see where things ended up, you can view and interact with our 2022 General Assembly End-of-Session Report.
The 2022 legislative session is officially over and if you'd like to see where things ended up, you can view and interact with our 2022 General Assembly End-of-Session Report.
Below, you'll see the status of our priorities at the halfway point of the legislative session.
People who have served their sentences and paid taxes deserve a chance to choose the people who represent them. It's time for a change and it's time for a second chance. Broadening the electorate to as many people as possible is a huge step toward eliminating the vestiges of Jim Crow that remain in the Virginia constitution.
Proposed legislation: In 2021, lawmakers passed the Right to Vote amendment for the first time. To amend the Constitution of Virginia, though, identical legislation must pass again in 2022. HJ 9/SJ 1 are the 2022 editions, and these bills would place the decision to guarantee the right to vote to every Virginian 18 and over not currently serving time for a felony conviction in the hands of Virginia's voters during the 2022 elections. A recent polling conducted by the Beacon Research Group showed that 65% of Virginians believe that once a person has served their time, they should have the right to vote. Our democracy is stronger and our communities are safer when more people are allowed to participate in it.
Status: The bill to send the Right to Vote amendment to Virginia’s voters passed the Virginia Senate with bipartisan support. We are pleased that lawmakers in the Senate see the value of enshrining the right to vote for people who have served their time in the Constitution of Virginia so that it cannot be taken away at the whims of the executive office. While we know that this bill has support in the House of Delegates, the battle is not won yet and it will be hard fought. We hope that lawmakers will choose to send this amendment to Virginia’s voters.
Problem: People who have served time for felony convictions are not guaranteed the right to vote under Virginia's constitution, meaning that over 250,000 Virginians are barred from the ballot box as an additional punishment to being incarcerated. Lawmakers in 1902 purposefully and consciously banned anyone convicted of a felony from voting to suppress the Black vote, knowing that Black people were – and would continue to be – disproportionately criminalized.
People who have used their incarceration to rehabilitate deserve the chance to return home and become full participants in their community.
Proposed legislation: SB 378 would allow people with unnecessarily long sentences to request a review of their sentence after serving 10 - 15 years in prison depending on the age at which they were convicted and give judges the power to consider shorter sentences for rehabilitated people.
Status: Virginia Senators from both sides of the aisle supported this legislation that allows people who are incarcerated to ask the court to review their case and potentially shorten their sentence. We are pleased our lawmakers are interested in creating a pathway to early release for people serving excessively long sentences and are hopeful this legislation will be approved by the House and sent to the Governor.
Problem: Too many people are locked up for far too long across Virginia. Despite research demonstrating that people "age out" of crime after ten years, over 4,000 people are serving a life sentence in Virginia's prisons - approximately 14% (one in seven) of the state's prison population. The Commonwealth's highly restrictive post-conviction relief systems have left incarcerated people serving extreme sentences with limited to no opportunity to return to their communities any sooner. This exacerbates our mass incarceration crisis, keeps families apart, and doesn't keep anyone safer. Extreme sentencing disproportionately impacts communities of color, as Black people are criminalized more often and receive harsher sentences than white Virginians.
Make sure to follow partners in this space: Sistas in Prison Reform, The Humanization Project, Justice Forward Virginia, Nolef Turns, Legal Aid Justice Center.
Abortion is a medical decision best left to a person and their doctor. Abortion restrictions and barriers to reproductive care severely impede a pregnant person's ability to make decisions about their lives and futures and restrict their right to privacy. When our lawmakers try to determine when, how, and why a person can qualify for an abortion, it's about control, not facts.
Proposed legislation: HB 212 to require "informed consent" (medically unnecessary counseling for anyone seeking an abortion) and HB 304, A "Born Alive" bill that would take away someone's ability to make heartbreaking but necessary decisions for their family.
Status: Lawmakers in the Virginia House passed both pieces of legislation. The Virginia Senate should recognize the harmful barriers bill like these create like these are to abortion access and keep this legislation from moving forward and becoming law.
Problem: In 2022, Virginia lawmakers introduced several pieces of legislation to roll back abortion access in Virginia. Egregious proposals like the 20-week abortion ban failed, but two survived: an "informed consent" bill and a "born alive" bill. Neither of these bills is rooted in fact - informed consent is already required of medical practitioners in Virginia and doctors already have to do everything they can to save lives. We'll be clear - these bills aren't about protecting health. They're about restricting access to abortion.
Make sure to follow our partners in this space: Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, NARAL Virginia, Progress Virginia, Whole Woman's Health Alliance, Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project
No one deserves to be exploited for profit, especially not the families of people who are incarcerated who are just trying to talk to their loved ones and ensure they have what they need.
Proposed legislation: SB 581 and HB 1053: to reduce profiteering in Virginia's jails/SB 441 and HB 665 to reduce profiteering in Virginia's prisons and reduce costs incurred by people who are incarcerated and their families. These bills are "study bills," meaning that they will be studied throughout the year and brought back for consideration in the 2023 legislative session.
Status: All four bills passed their original chambers with virtually unanimous and crossed over to the other, where they are likely to see similar support. We are glad to see our lawmakers have taken this step to address price-gouging in our prisons and jails.
Problem: Virginia's jails and prisons charge exorbitant prices for calls, emails, and commissary items, forcing people who are incarcerated and their families to sometimes pay double or more for what services and products are actually worth. Virginia's jails and prisons justify these prices by claiming profits are used to fund programming they couldn't afford otherwise, but the most recent Commonwealth of Virginia Jail Cost Report showed that for some jails, a majority of funds collected go nowhere near programming. Exploiting families of incarcerated people for profit and then not even using the funds to their intended use is criminal.
No one should be discriminated against nor denied services because of someone else's religious beliefs.
Proposed legislation: HB 753 would allow faith-based entities to be exempt from the provisions of the Virginia Human Rights Act and use their religion as an excuse to discriminate.
Status: The Virginia House moved this horrific piece of legislation forward and we urge the Virginia Senate to vote no and stop it in its tracks.
Problem: Religious freedom in America means that we all have a right to our religious beliefs, but this does not give us the right to use our religion to discriminate against and impose those beliefs on others who do not share them. This bill eliminates protections for LGBTQ+ people and other vulnerable groups in public accommodations, employment, and housing and essentially gives religious institutions license to discriminate. It's unacceptable and wrong.
People sentenced to a prison term are not sentenced to solitary confinement. The practice of isolating people in a cell the size of a parking spot for over 20 hours a day is barbaric and cruel, and it has no place in Virginia.
Proposed legislation: SB 108 would issue a ban on the use of solitary confinement (and any other names it's called) within the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Status: This bill passed through the Senate and is now with the House. We hope lawmakers in the House will take action to codify this ban into law and protect people who are incarcerated from this torturous practice.
Problem: Solitary confinement is torture and a violation of human rights. Despite VDOC's claims they have ended the practice, we are told every day by incarcerated people that the practice is still widely used in Virginia prisons. Without independent oversight, we have no way to verify VDOC’s claims beyond what they self-report.
We are proud to work with the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement to end this barbaric practice.
Although these issues won’t be addressed by the General Assembly in 2022, we will continue our work on each in the hopes that 2023 will be different.
With one month left ‘til bills head to Governor Youngkin’s desk, we’ll keep fighting to move Virginia forward, not backward. We’ll work with lawmakers across the aisle to stop bad bills and advance good bills. We’ll remind the General Assembly of their obligation to work for ALL Virginians, not just a few. And no matter what happens, we’ll be here, ready to act.
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