republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2453.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bail and recognizances; magistrate's checklist, surety's basis for request for capias."
description: "Requires a magistrate who conducts a bail hearing for a person arrested on a warrant or capias for a jailable offense to describe, on a form provided by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, the information considered in conducting such hearing, including (i) the nature and circumstances of the offense, (ii) whether a firearm was used in the offense, (iii) the financial resources of the accused, (iv) the character and appearance of the accused, and (v) the criminal history of the accused. The bill requires such magistrate to transmit such completed form to the circuit court or district before which the warrant or capias is returnable. The bill also requires a surety on a bond in recognizance to state the basis for which a capias is being requested from the court on the surety's application for the capias. As introduced, the bill was a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2453"
citation: "Virginia HB 2453 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Procedure"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Les R. Adams"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-09"
last_action: "2019-02-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a701ff7b-e567-4e3d-aded-8c4f4f74309b"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2453"
source_hash: "8d4455de1de2583bad92413a82ac330f7ea1fbdebc48780e6195689df31ba4a7"
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 2453 (2019) — Bail and recognizances; magistrate's checklist, surety's basis for request for capias.

Requires a magistrate who conducts a bail hearing for a person arrested on a warrant or capias for a jailable offense to describe, on a form provided by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, the information considered in conducting such hearing, including (i) the nature and circumstances of the offense, (ii) whether a firearm was used in the offense, (iii) the financial resources of the accused, (iv) the character and appearance of the accused, and (v) the criminal history of the accused. The bill requires such magistrate to transmit such completed form to the circuit court or district before which the warrant or capias is returnable. The bill also requires a surety on a bond in recognizance to state the basis for which a capias is being requested from the court on the surety's application for the capias. As introduced, the bill was a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0176)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0176)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2453AH)
3. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2453)
4. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2453ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2453ER)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19104059D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2453)
6. **House: Printed as engrossed 19104059D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2453E)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Les R. Adams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19104059D `introduction`
- **2019-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-17** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-24** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-01-24** Engrossed by House as amended HB2453E
- **2019-01-24** Printed as engrossed 19104059D-E
- **2019-01-25** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-28** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-14** Enrolled
- **2019-02-14** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-14** Signed by President
- **2019-02-18** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 18, 2019
- **2019-02-18** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-02-27** Approved by Governor-Chapter 176 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a701ff7b-e567-4e3d-aded-8c4f4f74309b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).