republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2025/sb-999.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	Appeals; procedure on appeal, payment of expenses.	Appeals; procedure on appeal. Provides an appellate court with discretion in assessing attorney fees, costs, and necessary expenses against an indigent defendant when the conviction of the defendant is upheld on appeal. Under current law, the appellate court must assess such fees, costs, and expenses against an indigent defendant when the conviction of the defendant is upheld on appeal.Finally, the bill also provides that a panel of the Court of Appeals may dispense with oral argument if such panel unanimously decides that such oral argument is unnecessary because the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the briefs and the record such that the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument and provides that this provision shall expire on June 30, 2027, unless reenacted by the 2027 Session of the General Assembly.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2025	SB 999	Virginia SB 999 (2025)	bill		enacted	Scott A. Surovell	6	37	9	2025-01-07	2025-04-02	openstates	ocd-bill/e78153af-9b3f-47d2-97ab-99f97391df0a	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/SB999	37f49e8e7e3b40a98032e984aec6798ed76d4bab82f10fe3f3ebeddce6022788	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 999 (2025) — Appeals; procedure on appeal, payment of expenses.

Appeals; procedure on appeal. Provides an appellate court with discretion in assessing attorney fees, costs, and necessary expenses against an indigent defendant when the conviction of the defendant is upheld on appeal. Under current law, the appellate court must assess such fees, costs, and expenses against an indigent defendant when the conviction of the defendant is upheld on appeal.Finally, the bill also provides that a panel of the Court of Appeals may dispense with oral argument if such panel unanimously decides that such oral argument is unnecessary because the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the briefs and the record such that the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument and provides that this provision shall expire on June 30, 2027, unless reenacted by the 2027 Session of the General Assembly.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. Governor Substitute (committee substitute) — source
4. Governor's Recommendation (committee substitute) — source
5. Reenrolled (committee substitute) — source
6. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• House concurred in Governor's recommendation (94-Y 0-N) — 94–0 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 1-A) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 8-N) — 32–8 (pass) · upper
• Passed House (97-Y 0-N) — 97–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 3-N) — 11–3 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 3-N 1-A) — 10–3 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) — 21–0 (pass) · lower
• Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N) — 39–1 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-01-07 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25104339D filing, introduction
• 2025-01-07 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2025-01-15 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB999)
• 2025-01-22 Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 3-N 1-A) committee-passage
• 2025-01-29 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 3-N) committee-passage
• 2025-01-30 Rules suspended
• 2025-01-30 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 1-A)
• 2025-01-30 Passed by for the day
• 2025-01-31 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
• 2025-02-03 Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 8-N) passage, reading-3
• 2025-02-06 Placed on Calendar
• 2025-02-06 Read first time reading-1
• 2025-02-06 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2025-02-07 Assigned Courts sub: Civil referral-committee
• 2025-02-10 Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
• 2025-02-14 Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2025-02-18 Read second time reading-2
• 2025-02-19 Read third time reading-3
• 2025-02-19 Passed House (97-Y 0-N) passage
• 2025-03-07 Enrolled enrolled
• 2025-03-07 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB999ER) passage
• 2025-03-07 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2025-03-10 Signed by President passage
• 2025-03-10 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB999)
• 2025-03-11 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2025 enrolled
• 2025-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 executive-receipt
• 2025-03-24 Governor's recommendation received by Senate executive-veto-line-item
• 2025-03-24 Governor's substitute printed (SB999S1)
• 2025-04-02 Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N)
• 2025-04-02 House concurred in Governor's recommendation (94-Y 0-N)
• 2025-04-02 Governor's recommendation adopted executive-signature
• 2025-04-02 Reenrolled enrolled
• 2025-04-02 Reenrolled bill text (SB999ER2) enrolled
• 2025-04-02 Signed by President as reenrolled enrolled, passage
• 2025-04-02 Signed by Speaker as reenrolled enrolled, passage
• 2025-04-02 Enacted, Chapter 612 (Effective 07/01/2025 - see bill) became-law
• 2025-04-02 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0612)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/e78153af-9b3f-47d2-97ab-99f97391df0a. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).