Attorney General Miyares’ statement on the conclusion of the 2023 Session

On February 25, 2023, Attorney General Jason Miyares issued the following statement upon the adjournment of the General Assembly Sine Die. Twenty bills from the Attorney General’s legislative agenda passed both houses of the legislature.

“Once again, the oldest continually operating legislative body in the western hemisphere has concluded their regular legislative session. For the second year, my office has successfully advocated for important legislation that will improve the lives of Virginians. We maintained our commitment to ensuring victims always come first, holding criminals accountable, strengthening public safety laws to keep our communities safe, further curbing distribution of lethal fentanyl, fighting organized retail crime, and providing accountability and transparency to the Parole Board. I look forward to seeing these bills signed into law by Governor Youngkin,” said Attorney General Miyares.

The list of passed legislation supported by the Attorney General includes:

HB 1885 (Byron) / SB 1396 (Stuart) – Combating Organized Retail Crime by cracking down on smash-and-grab retail theft and giving tools back to law enforcement to charge criminals engaging in Organized Retail Crime appropriately.

SB 989 (Peake) / HB 1943 (Runion) – Ensuring victims are heard by requiring the Commonwealth’s Attorney to inform and consult with crime victims about the outcome of cases.

HB 1682 (Wyatt) / SB 1188 (Reeves) – Amends the terrorism statute to add all forms of fentanyl as a weapon of terrorism and the knowing and intentional manufacture and distribution of fentanyl as a Class 4 felony.

HB 1416 (Brewer) / SB 1436 (Dunnavant) – Supporting victims of sexual assault by reinstating the requirement that individuals charged with certain crimes are required to submit to STI testing.

HB 1606 (Tata) – Defines antisemitism with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition in Section 1 to protect the Jewish Community and for use as a tool and guide for training, educating, recognizing, and combating antisemitism in the Commonwealth.

HB 1555 (Brewer) / SB 1373 (Vogel) – Preventative measure to combat human trafficking by requiring first-year students to complete training during first-year orientation at public universities and encourages private institutions to develop policies and awareness training as well.

SB 1459 (McDougle/ Brewer) – Prohibits any employee or agent of the Commonwealth from downloading or accessing TikTok or WeChat on any state-owned device or accessed on any state-owned or maintained networks.

SB 1002 (Cosgrove) / HB 1911 (Batten) – Prohibits state entities from receiving gifts from certain foreign countries of concern as listed on the state department website and being influenced by hostile regimes.

SB 910 (Newman) / HB 1916 (Batten) – Protects students on campus by requiring training for threat assessment team members and reporting to local law enforcement and the Commonwealth’s Attorney when the threat assessment team has requested certain records and believes the student to be a significant threat.

HB 2166 (Williams) / SB 896 (McDougle) – Updates the Racketeering Act by adding petit larceny and expands the definition of a RICO enterprise to include more individuals and targeting gang activity.

HB 1931 (Durant) / SB 973 (Peake) – Creates a new class 6 felony for sexually violent predators who abscond or tamper with their GPS.

HB 1822 (Avoli) – Clarifies that individuals who have solicited minors for sex offenses would be required to disclose such offenses on an employment application.

HB 1704 (Bell) / SB 821 (Surovell) – Keeps children safe in school by requiring law enforcement to report any public school employees arrested for a Class 1 misdemeanor and all felonies at conviction to the school division Chief Safety Officer and affirmative acknowledgment of receipt.

HB 1976 (Bell) / SB 1299 (Deeds) – Expands the list of medical professionals who are able to release an individual under a TDO.

HB 2168 (Williams) – Provides increased transparency to the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission by requiring certain data to be publicly released in an annual report.

HB 1478 (Ballard) / SB 1207 (McDougle) – Targets gang activity by updating the gang statute to include crimes committed by modern gangs.

HB 2169 (Williams) – Increases transparency within the parole board in light of the parole board report and victim access to the parole review process.

HB 1452 (Orrock) – Protects Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigators in the AG’s office by allowing them to be sworn officers.

HB 2294 (Kilgore) / SB 903 (Hanger) – Protects consumers and children by enacting safeguards on total THC content and creates a $10,000 civil penalty for violations.

HB 2230 (Wampler / Obenshain) – Enhances public safety by removing post-release supervision violations from the bureaucracy of the Virginia Parole Board and restores public hearings in the Circuit Courts for repeat offenders who violate supervision.