republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-1991.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Juveniles; release and review hearing for serious offender, plea agreement or commitment order."
description: "Juveniles; release and review hearing for seriousoffender; plea agreement. Clarifies that the Department of JuvenileJustice (the Department) may petition the court that committed ajuvenile for a hearing for an earlier release of a juvenile whengood cause exists for an earlier release as permitted under currentlaw and shall petition the committing court for a determination asto the continued commitment of each juvenile committed as a seriousoffender at least 60 days prior to the second anniversary of thejuvenile's date of commitment and at least 60 days prior to each annualanniversary thereafter as required under current law, notwithstandingthe terms of any plea agreement. Similarly, at the conclusion ofsuch hearing, the bill provides that notwithstanding the terms ofany plea agreement, the court shall order any of the dispositionspermitted under current law such as continued commitment to the Departmentor release of the juvenile under terms and conditions after consideringthe statutory factors."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1991"
citation: "Virginia HB 1991 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jerrauld C. \"Jay\" Jones"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 30
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cba9b943-a920-4a71-b445-c1e1f5bbe9dc"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1991"
source_hash: "c1a8b08748ea36147b88d9af0f5d9432fc853bd089387a4d6a035541e3127b68"
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 1991 (2021) — Juveniles; release and review hearing for serious offender, plea agreement or commitment order.

Juveniles; release and review hearing for seriousoffender; plea agreement. Clarifies that the Department of JuvenileJustice (the Department) may petition the court that committed ajuvenile for a hearing for an earlier release of a juvenile whengood cause exists for an earlier release as permitted under currentlaw and shall petition the committing court for a determination asto the continued commitment of each juvenile committed as a seriousoffender at least 60 days prior to the second anniversary of thejuvenile's date of commitment and at least 60 days prior to each annualanniversary thereafter as required under current law, notwithstandingthe terms of any plea agreement. Similarly, at the conclusion ofsuch hearing, the bill provides that notwithstanding the terms ofany plea agreement, the court shall order any of the dispositionspermitted under current law such as continued commitment to the Departmentor release of the juvenile under terms and conditions after consideringthe statutory factors.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0284** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0284)
2. **HB1991ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1991ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101460D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1991)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary with amendments (9-Y 4-N 1-A) — **9–4** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with amendments (23-Y 16-N) — **23–16** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (55-Y 41-N) — **54–41** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (58-Y 42-N) — **57–42** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N) — **6–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jerrauld C. "Jay" Jones — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101460D `introduction`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-14** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N)
- **2021-01-22** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-25** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-01-27** Read third time and passed House (58-Y 42-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-27** VOTE: Passage (58-Y 42-N)
- **2021-01-27** Impact statement from DPB (HB1991)
- **2021-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-01-28** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-17** Reported from Judiciary with amendments (9-Y 4-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Reading of amendments waived
- **2021-02-22** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2021-02-22** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2021-02-22** Passed Senate with amendments (23-Y 16-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-23** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-23** Senate amendments agreed to by House (55-Y 41-N)
- **2021-02-23** VOTE: Adoption (55-Y 41-N)
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled
- **2021-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB1991ER)
- **2021-02-25** Signed by President
- **2021-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-01** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
- **2021-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 284 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cba9b943-a920-4a71-b445-c1e1f5bbe9dc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).