Virginia House advances legislation requiring civilian review boards

The Virginia House of Delegates Thursday advanced legislation from House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) that would require state localities to form law enforcement civilian review boards to address possible cases of officer misconduct.

Such boards have been one of the key demands from protesters during the recent social justice movement in Virginia.

The Virginia Senate’s version of the bill does not require localities to enact review boards – it only enables them to have such boards, with more power than they have now. The Senate and House will have to work through that significant difference to agree upon the same language in order for the bill to pass both chambers.

Henrico’s Board of Supervisors is weighing the creation of a CRB but has opted to delay potential action on the topic until the General Assembly acts on it during this special session.

In discussion on the House floor, Republican Delegate William Wampler (R-Abingdon) criticized Democrats and their criminal justice rhetoric, calling it “divisive.”

Wampler told the House that he was unsure of what his purpose is in the House of Delegates at this time.

Leaders from the Democratic caucus made it clear that they know their purpose.

“The goal of this session is to heal, to help the police to make them strong,” responded Herring. “We were elected to do what is difficult.”

Democrats in the House continued to insist that they support police, but that they believe action needs to be taken now to address social justice concerns.

“This is not a war against police, this is a war for justice,” said Delegate Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico), chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. “I am asking you to put the rhetoric to the side.”

The House also advanced HB 5106 from Delegate Joshua Cole (D-Stafford) along party lines. This bill would prohibit landlords from reporting negative credit information that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On to the Senate!” Cole said after the bill passed the House.

The House also passed HB 5047, an anti-price gouging bill sponsored by Delegate Kathleen Murphy (D-McLean). The legislation would prohibit any manufacturer or distributor from selling necessary goods or services at an unreasonable price during a state of emergency.

Under current law, the prohibition does not apply to a manufacturer or distributor unless it advertises its goods or services to consumers. This addresses the concern that several small business owners have voiced recently in response to anti-price gouging legislation, saying they are paying more to buy from distributors, which is causing them to raise their prices for consumers.

The House also advanced several bills on their second reading with a voice vote, including a ban on no-knock warrants and allowing civilians to file civil lawsuits against law enforcement officers. Those bills will be heard again for their third reading on Friday for a final vote and passage.

Bills advanced out of committee
The House Appropriations Committee met Thursday morning to take up more legislation covering every aspect of the purpose of this special session. The Committee voted to advance the automatic expungement bill sponsored by Herring to the full House floor. This legislation would implement a system of automatic expungement from a person’s record for certain criminal convictions, deferred dispositions, acquittals, and offenses that have been nolle prossed (or dismissed).

The committee also advanced a bill from Delegate Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax) that restricts law enforcement officials from purchasing and using military equipment. One interesting note from this bill is that it will still leave the option of deploying tear gas into civilian crowds if an unlawful assembly has been declared by police.

A required paid-quarantine bill sponsored by Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-Woodbridge) also advanced out of Appropriations. The bill in its current form excludes businesses that employ less than 50 people.

“This pandemic has shined a bright light on societal disparities, one of which is that there are low wage workers who could be forced to work or lose their jobs when they quarantine for COVID reasons. This bill addresses that,” said Delegate Paul Krizek (D-Fairfax).