---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons acquitted by reason of insanity; evaluation."
description: "Provides that a court may authorize a person acquitted of a crime by reason of insanity to be evaluated for commitment or release with or without conditions on an outpatient basis. The bill provides that if a court authorizes an outpatient evaluation, the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall determine whether to conduct the evaluation on an outpatient basis or to confine the person to a hospital for the purpose of such evaluation. The bill also provides that the evaluation shall be conducted in a hospital if the court does not authorize an outpatient evaluation. Under current law, the person acquitted must be confined to a hospital for the purpose of such evaluation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 53"
citation: "Virginia HB 53 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Behavioral Health and Developmental Services", "Criminal Procedure"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patrick A. Hope"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-12-01"
last_action: "2018-02-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/90bf861c-db91-4045-b57d-fb961505b64f"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB53"
source_hash: "ab9ba5ef5b5f6c01c00c46ea6cfed1ff5e3408814dd8ed802a71dd7b0c12326d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 53 (2018) — Persons acquitted by reason of insanity; evaluation.

Provides that a court may authorize a person acquitted of a crime by reason of insanity to be evaluated for commitment or release with or without conditions on an outpatient basis. The bill provides that if a court authorizes an outpatient evaluation, the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall determine whether to conduct the evaluation on an outpatient basis or to confine the person to a hospital for the purpose of such evaluation. The bill also provides that the evaluation shall be conducted in a hospital if the court does not authorize an outpatient evaluation. Under current law, the person acquitted must be confined to a hospital for the purpose of such evaluation.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0016)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+CHAP0016)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB53ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB53ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 18105885D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB53H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18100446D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB53)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **18–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **96–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **14–1** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **39–1** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Patrick A. Hope — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-12-01** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18100446D `introduction`
- **2017-12-01** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-19** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-01** Committee substitute agreed to 18105885D-H1
- **2018-02-01** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB53H1
- **2018-02-02** Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N 1-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-16** Enrolled
- **2018-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-19** Signed by President
- **2018-02-19** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 19, 2018
- **2018-02-19** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 26, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 16 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/90bf861c-db91-4045-b57d-fb961505b64f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).