republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2018/hb-53.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	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.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2018	HB 53	Virginia HB 53 (2018)	bill	Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Criminal Procedure	enacted	Patrick A. Hope	4	17	6	2017-12-01	2018-02-26	openstates	ocd-bill/90bf861c-db91-4045-b57d-fb961505b64f	http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB53	ab9ba5ef5b5f6c01c00c46ea6cfed1ff5e3408814dd8ed802a71dd7b0c12326d	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	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
2. House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB53ER) (committee substitute) — source
3. House: Committee substitute printed 18105885D-H1 (committee substitute) — source
4. House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18100446D (committee substitute) — source

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; origin ocd-bill/90bf861c-db91-4045-b57d-fb961505b64f. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).