Jury Sentencing (SB 5007) THE transformational bill this special session is AT RISK

Edit 10/4/20: The reenactment clause was not removed in the House at the time of the third reading. We are hopeful that it will be removed in conference committee which is expected to meet this week to work out common language for the bill.

If you are a regular reader of Justice Forward Virginia’s blog, then you know one of our top priorities this session has been SB 5007 - jury sentencing. This bill has the potential to be one of the most significant criminal justice reforms ever in Virginia.  If you aren’t up to speed on the details of what this bill does, you can read more here . We need your help to get this critical legislation over the finish line in the next 1-2 weeks and are hosting an advocacy training on Monday September 28, 2020 at 8 pm to help Virginians interested in criminal justice reform have all the tools to be great advocates.  Our leadership team will explain the arguments for and against the bill, what's happened with the bill so far, and what we want legislators to do next, as well as answer your questions.  Sign-up here.  

This legislation has already passed out of the Senate and is now up for consideration in the House. This past week, the bill passed out of the House Courts of Justice Committee and was referred to the Appropriations Committee.  Unfortunately, that’s where our story takes a turn. 

An opponent of the bill proposed an amendment called a “reenactment clause.” What this does is require the General Assembly to vote on the bill again in its 2021 session before the bill can become law.  The motion to amend passed and the Committee voted to report the bill.  Fun fact - the reenactment clause was proposed by a Republican opponent of the legislation, who, once the clause was added, proceeded to vote against the amended bill. The Delegate who requested the amendment indicated it was so that they could reevaluate the situation with more information about the budget implications, but all information about the costs are already known. In fact it is most likely that there will be a cost savings. So you’d be right to conclude that this amendment was not a good faith attempt to make the legislation better. It will delay implementation and give opponents another shot at killing the bill at a time when fewer people are watching closely.

But all hope is not lost.  The legislation will likely be up for a vote on the House floor the week of September 28th.  It can be amended before the vote to take out the reenactment clause.  Alternatively, the House can pass the bill with the reenactment clause and leave it to the conference committee to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the bill by removing the reenactment clause.  Justice Forward Virginia is calling on House Leadership to support amending the legislation to eliminate the reenactment clause before the full House vote and pass this legislation as it came to the House from the Senate. Alternatively, we ask that Leadership support the conference committee agreeing to the version of the legislation without the reenactment clause. 

Virginia should not be delaying a reform that would restore one of the most fundamental rights in our constitution - the right to a jury trial. While this impacts everyone accused of a crime, the delay is most devastating to Black, brown and poor people. This legislation also has the support now to become law, and it is risky to subject it to another round of voting months from now.

While there have been many good criminal justice bills coming out of this Special Session, SB 5007 is one of only bills that can truly transform our justice system.  It doesn’t just address injustice after the fact, but prevents injustice from occurring in the first place. Unfortunately, because this bill also takes power away from prosecutors, the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys decided to oppose this legislation.  While they have been pushing a highly speculative argument that an increase in access to jury trials will have significant costs, make no mistake -- their  opposition is not about cost. Their opposition is about preserving their power and making it easier to send people to prison. The time for such thinking is over, and we need a leader in the House who is willing to say so.

Justice Forward Virginia believes that in order for the General Assembly to call this Special Session a success for criminal justice reform, SB 5007 must be passed without a reenactment clause.  No amount of further study is going to give a definitive answer on cost, but as soon as this legislation goes into effect, it will make our criminal justice system more fair.