republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-706.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Drug Treatment Court Act; eligibility."
description: "Drug Treatment Court Act; eligibility.Replaces the restriction that renders persons convicted of certainviolent felonies or acts of violence within the preceding 10 years ineligible to participate in a drug treatment court with a restrictionon participation if any of the following conditions apply: (i) theoffender is presently charged with a felony offense or is convictedof a felony offense while participating in any drug treatment courtwhere (a) the offender carried, possessed, or used a firearm or anydangerous weapon during such offense; (b) the death or serious bodilyinjury of any person occurred during such offense; or (c) the useof force against any other person besides the offender occurred duringsuch offense or (ii) the offender was previously convicted as an adult of any felony offense that involved the use of force or attempteduse of force against any person with the intent to cause death orserious bodily injury. This bill is a recommendation of the VirginiaCriminal Justice Conference."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 706"
citation: "Virginia SB 706 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard H. Stuart"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-19"
last_action: "2024-03-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6404bf3c-79c1-401e-b3d0-11003512454c"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB706"
source_hash: "27d90050781c5fda626eaf70e7e0888d4fe37cf301d6a2f8321cd0bbb68ed61c"
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 706 (2024) — Drug Treatment Court Act; eligibility.

Drug Treatment Court Act; eligibility.Replaces the restriction that renders persons convicted of certainviolent felonies or acts of violence within the preceding 10 years ineligible to participate in a drug treatment court with a restrictionon participation if any of the following conditions apply: (i) theoffender is presently charged with a felony offense or is convictedof a felony offense while participating in any drug treatment courtwhere (a) the offender carried, possessed, or used a firearm or anydangerous weapon during such offense; (b) the death or serious bodilyinjury of any person occurred during such offense; or (c) the useof force against any other person besides the offender occurred duringsuch offense or (ii) the offender was previously convicted as an adult of any felony offense that involved the use of force or attempteduse of force against any person with the intent to cause death orserious bodily injury. This bill is a recommendation of the VirginiaCriminal Justice Conference.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0260** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0260)
2. **Presented and ordered printed 24104032D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB706)
3. **SB706ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB706ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Richard H. Stuart — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 24104032D `introduction`
- **2024-01-19** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-31** Impact statement from DPB (SB706)
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-15** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-15** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-15** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-23** Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-28** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-04** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-04** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB706ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-04** Impact statement from DPB (SB706ER)
- **2024-03-04** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-28** Approved by Governor-Chapter 260 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-28** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0260)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6404bf3c-79c1-401e-b3d0-11003512454c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).