republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-247.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Deferred dispos. in criminal case; persons with autism, intellectual, or developmental disabilities."
description: "Deferred disposition in a criminal case; persons with autism, intellectual disabilities, or developmental disabilities; expungement. Adds developmental disabilities to the autism and intellectual disability deferred disposition statute. The bill also provides that when a court defers and dismisses a charge pursuant to the autism, intellectual disability, or developmental disability deferred disposition statute, such charge may be considered as otherwise dismissed for purposes of expungement of police and court records. The bill also (i) clarifies that the defendant may request a hearing to determine the appropriateness of a deferred disposition at any time before or after any plea and (ii) provides that no statement made by the defendant at such a hearing is admissible in any criminal proceeding, except that any such statement made under oath may be admissible in a criminal proceeding for perjury or for purposes of impeachment in a criminal matter. This bill is identical to SB 416."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 247"
citation: "Virginia HB 247 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Vivian E. Watts"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 37
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2026-01-08"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8ac172d3-2c07-4431-812c-ddd1342d9fd7"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB247"
source_hash: "9e14a878fc1db2571822f022997bdda238d5ac8a1bc06a6a3a25532986bfcbe3"
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 247 (2026) — Deferred dispos. in criminal case; persons with autism, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.

Deferred disposition in a criminal case; persons with autism, intellectual disabilities, or developmental disabilities; expungement. Adds developmental disabilities to the autism and intellectual disability deferred disposition statute. The bill also provides that when a court defers and dismisses a charge pursuant to the autism, intellectual disability, or developmental disability deferred disposition statute, such charge may be considered as otherwise dismissed for purposes of expungement of police and court records. The bill also (i) clarifies that the defendant may request a hearing to determine the appropriateness of a deferred disposition at any time before or after any plea and (ii) provides that no statement made by the defendant at such a hearing is admissible in any criminal proceeding, except that any such statement made under oath may be admissible in a criminal proceeding for perjury or for purposes of impeachment in a criminal matter. This bill is identical to SB 416.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1083251.PDF)
2. **Courts of Justice Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128675.HTML)
3. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177619.PDF)
4. **Criminal Subcommittee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128209.HTML)
5. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1138363.PDF)
6. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1191274.PDF)

## Votes

- H VOTE: — **59–36** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **10–4** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — **8–2** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **32–8** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **62–33** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Vivian E. Watts — primary (person)
- Laura Jane Cohen — cosponsor (person)
- Virgil Thornton — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102493D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-08** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-23** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB247)
- **2026-01-30** Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-02** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-02** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) and referring to Appropriations (8-Y 2-N)
- **2026-02-04** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) and referred to Appropriations (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-05** Assigned HAPP sub: General Government and Capital Outlay `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-06** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N)
- **2026-02-09** Reported from Appropriations (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-11** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-12** committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-02-12** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2026-02-13** Read third time and passed House (59-Y 36-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-16** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-20** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB247)
- **2026-02-23** Senate committee offered
- **2026-02-23** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (10-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-23** Committee substitute printed 26108374D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-24** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-24** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-24** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-25** Courts of Justice Substitute agreed to
- **2026-02-25** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-25** Passed Senate with substitute (32-Y 8-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Senate substitute agreed to by House (62-Y 33-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-04** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-04** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB247ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB247)
- **2026-03-04** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 960 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8ac172d3-2c07-4431-812c-ddd1342d9fd7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).