republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1397.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Parole and conditional release; notice by electronic means and certification."
description: "Conditional release of geriatric or terminally ill inmates; notice to attorney for the Commonwealth. Requires the Virginia Parole Board to notify by certified mail or verifiable electronic means at least 21 business days prior to conditional release of any geriatric or terminally ill inmate convicted of a felony the attorney for the Commonwealth in the jurisdiction where the inmate was sentenced. The bill also allows the notice that must be sent to the attorney for the Commonwealth prior to the release of an inmate on discretionary parole to be sent through verifiable electronic means."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1397"
citation: "Virginia SB 1397 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Thomas K. Norment, Jr."]
version_count: 5
action_count: 35
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-13"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5a703ed7-d818-415d-895a-01319d39c7a6"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1397"
source_hash: "dac67dd475cbae657e7eb417e4a9a01d1cb9f37d29770c06f5191152e1e59c77"
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 1397 (2021) — Parole and conditional release; notice by electronic means and certification.

Conditional release of geriatric or terminally ill inmates; notice to attorney for the Commonwealth. Requires the Virginia Parole Board to notify by certified mail or verifiable electronic means at least 21 business days prior to conditional release of any geriatric or terminally ill inmate convicted of a felony the attorney for the Commonwealth in the jurisdiction where the inmate was sentenced. The bill also allows the notice that must be sent to the attorney for the Commonwealth prior to the release of an inmate on discretionary parole to be sent through verifiable electronic means.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0287** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0287)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21200171D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1397H1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100262D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1397)
4. **Printed as engrossed 21100262D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1397E)
5. **SB1397ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1397ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 3-N) — **36–3** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendments (9-Y 5-N) — **9–5** (pass) · upper
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Thomas K. Norment, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100262D `introduction`
- **2021-01-13** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-20** Impact statement from DPB (SB1397)
- **2021-01-29** Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendments (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Reading of amendments waived
- **2021-02-02** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2021-02-02** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1397E
- **2021-02-02** Printed as engrossed 21100262D-E
- **2021-02-03** Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 3-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB1397E)
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice
- **2021-02-12** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-12** Committee substitute printed 21200171D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-12** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-16** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB1397H1)
- **2021-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-17** Committee substitute agreed to 21200171D-H1
- **2021-02-17** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1397H1
- **2021-02-17** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-17** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-19** House substitute agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-19** Title replaced 21200171D-H1
- **2021-02-24** Enrolled
- **2021-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB1397ER)
- **2021-02-24** Signed by President
- **2021-02-25** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-26** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 26, 2021
- **2021-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 287 (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/5a703ed7-d818-415d-895a-01319d39c7a6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).