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Fabio 5a13be122b Legislation: batch E — CA TN VA VT WA WI WV WY

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

2026-07-06 17:28:36 -04:00

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identifier

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Bill

Writ of actual innocence; petition by convicted person.

Petition for writ of actual innocence. Provides that a person who was convicted of a felony or who was adjudicated delinquent by a circuit court of an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult may petition for a writ of actual innocence based on biological evidence or nonbiological evidence regardless of the type of plea he entered at trial. Under current law, such person may petition for a writ based on biological evidence if he entered a plea of not guilty, and any person, regardless of the type of plea he entered at trial, may petition for such writ if he is sentenced to death or convicted or adjudicated delinquent of murder or a felony for which the maximum punishment is imprisonment for life. The bill also (i) allows a writ of actual innocence based on nonbiological evidence to be granted if scientific testing of previously untested evidence, regardless of whether such evidence was available or known at the time of conviction, proves that no trier of fact would have found proof of guilt of the person petitioning for the writ, provided that the testing procedure was not available at the time of conviction, and (ii) eliminates the provision that limits a petitioner to only one writ of actual innocence based on nonbiological evidence for any conviction. The bill provides that the petitioner must prove the allegations supporting either type of writ of actual innocence by a preponderance of the evidence. Currently, the petitioner must prove such allegations by clear and convincing evidence. Finally, the bill clarifies that the Attorney General may join a petition for a writ of actual innocence filed in connection with an adjudication of delinquency. This bill is identical to SB 511.

us/states/va

Virginia General Assembly

2020

HB 974

Virginia HB 974 (2020)

bill

enacted

Charniele L. Herring

2020-01-07

2020-04-09

openstates

ocd-bill/861ab1c9-530a-410b-b549-b6bfc0b7e1e0

https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB974

d77135171fbacbf08af022071d4a399a4f35964ec6a1a770f5697c5b986669a0

2026-07-01

https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump

2026-07-06

reported

legislation

bill

us-va

Virginia HB 974 (2020) — Writ of actual innocence; petition by convicted person.

Version chain

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

Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0993) (committee substitute) — source
Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB974ER) (committee substitute) — source
Impact statement from DPB (HB974) (committee substitute) — source

Votes

VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 41-N) — 57–41 (pass) · lower
Reported from Appropriations (16-Y 6-N) — 16–6 (pass) · lower
Reported from Courts of Justice (16-Y 6-N) — 16–6 (pass) · lower
Reported from Judiciary with amendment (7-Y 4-N) — 7–4 (pass) · upper
Senate insisted on amendment (37-Y 0-N) — 37–0 (pass) · upper
Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — 5–3 (pass) · lower
VOTE: Passage (63-Y 37-N) — 62–37 (pass) · lower
Passed Senate with amendment (27-Y 13-N) — 27–13 (pass) · upper
Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — 32–0 (pass) · upper
Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N) — 6–2 (pass) · lower
VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 97-N) — 0–96 (fail) · lower
Conference report agreed to by Senate (28-Y 10-N) — 28–10 (pass) · upper

Timeline

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

2020-01-07 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104714D introduction
2020-01-07 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
2020-02-02 Assigned Courts sub: Criminal referral-committee
2020-02-03 Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N)
2020-02-05 Reported from Courts of Justice (16-Y 6-N) committee-passage
2020-02-05 Referred to Committee on Appropriations referral-committee
2020-02-07 Assigned App. sub: Transportation & Public Safety referral-committee
2020-02-07 Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
2020-02-07 Reported from Appropriations (16-Y 6-N) committee-passage
2020-02-09 Read first time reading-1
2020-02-10 Impact statement from DPB (HB974)
2020-02-10 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
2020-02-11 Read third time and passed House (63-Y 37-N) passage, reading-3
2020-02-11 VOTE: Passage (63-Y 37-N)
2020-02-12 Constitutional reading dispensed
2020-02-12 Referred to Committee on the Judiciary referral-committee
2020-02-19 Reported from Judiciary with amendment (7-Y 4-N) committee-passage
2020-02-21 Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
2020-02-24 Read third time reading-3
2020-02-24 Reading of amendment waived
2020-02-24 Committee amendment agreed to
2020-02-24 Engrossed by Senate as amended
2020-02-24 Passed Senate with amendment (27-Y 13-N) passage
2020-02-26 Placed on Calendar
2020-02-26 Senate amendment rejected by House (0-Y 97-N)
2020-02-26 VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 97-N)
2020-02-28 Senate insisted on amendment (37-Y 0-N)
2020-02-28 Senate requested conference committee
2020-03-02 House acceded to request
2020-03-03 Conferees appointed by Senate
2020-03-04 Conferees appointed by House
2020-03-07 Amended by conference committee
2020-03-07 Conference report agreed to by Senate (28-Y 10-N)
2020-03-07 Conference report agreed to by House (58-Y 41-N)
2020-03-07 VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 41-N)
2020-03-18 Enrolled
2020-03-18 Signed by President
2020-03-19 Signed by Speaker
2020-03-20 Impact statement from DPB (HB974ER)
2020-03-20 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 20, 2020
2020-03-20 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
2020-04-09 Approved by Governor-Chapter 993 (effective 7/1/20) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/861ab1c9-530a-410b-b549-b6bfc0b7e1e0. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).

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