---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal appeals; duties of the Attorney General and attorney for the Commonwealth."
description: "Criminal appeals; duties of the Attorney General and attorney for the Commonwealth."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 1259"
citation: "Virginia SB 1259 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Petersen"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-03-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ffd12cd8-a9f7-4c71-82d0-b127829415c9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB1259"
source_hash: "43dc62902c3c753336d37941b237f53a59b82b25a650cedfe83f500f4e15f9cd"
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 SB 1259 (2023) — Criminal appeals; duties of the Attorney General and attorney for the Commonwealth.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0315** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0315)
2. **Committee substitute printed 23106017D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1259S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102452D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1259)
4. **SB1259ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1259ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (11-Y 8-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (55-Y 43-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Petersen — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102452D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-10** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-01** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-02-01** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-01** Committee substitute printed 23106017D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-06** Reading of substitute waived
- **2023-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 23106017D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1259S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-06** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-10** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-10** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-10** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-13** Reported from Courts of Justice (11-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-15** Impact statement from DPB (SB1259S1)
- **2023-02-15** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-16** Passed by temporarily
- **2023-02-16** Passed House (55-Y 43-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** VOTE: Passage (55-Y 43-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-21** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1259ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (SB1259ER)
- **2023-02-24** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 315 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-23** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0315)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ffd12cd8-a9f7-4c71-82d0-b127829415c9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).