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Public Safety Subcommittee #2

Thursday, February 26, 2026·40m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Public Safety Subcommittee #2 advanced four bills — including measures reforming juvenile detention oversight, pausing out-of-state inmate placements at Red Onion, and expanding National Guard disciplinary tools — while carrying over a parole notification bill to 2027 over concerns it would enshrine a one-sided process.

Key Actions

·SB 64 – Juvenile Detention Length-of-Stay OversightPassed

+ 3 more actions

Controversies

Whether SB 538 codifying Commonwealth's Attorney parole notification is necessary or harmful

Taj Mahaff testified that the bill 'is a solution in search of a problem that will actually enshrine things in the wrong direction,' pointing to parole grant rates already below 1% and arguing enshrining a one-sided perspective moves in the wrong direction. Senator Sudelein countered that the bill codifies best practice and that commonwealth's attorneys should provide input before rather than after parole decisions, noting commonwealth's attorneys testified in support in the Senate and that the bill has strong bipartisan support.

+ 3 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“Despite DJJ implementing guidelines, it actually lengthened the amount of time, more than double the time that kids had been there over the past several years.”

Amy Walters (Legal Aid Justice Center; UVA Law Youth Advocacy Clinic) — Walters testified in support of SB 64, which requires DJJ to justify to courts why juveniles are being held beyond the recommended length-of-stay schedule.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Report Senate Bill 64Passed
Report Senate Bill 635 and refer to AppropriationsPassed
Carry over Senate Bill 538 under Rule 22 until the 2027 sessionPassed
Report Senate Bill 218Passed
Report Senate Bill 600Passed
AdjournPassed
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TranscriptPreview
2 of Public Safety Committee will come to order. We will take the roll. Clerk shall close the roll. We have a quorum first up, because I know she's got a committee to go and chair. Senator Favola, members of the committee referred for detention with an indeterminate sentence. So what the bill does is it requires the Department of Juvenile justice to alert the court at least 60 days before if a juvenile is going to be in detention for a longer period of time than the recommended schedule of length of stay. There's a recommended schedule that the board of the Department of Juvenile justice creates. And that length of stay tracks with, you know, different offenses. But oftentimes, more often than we would like, the youth are just left in detention for very long periods of time. And we have examples of youth being in detention for three years, which is well beyond any outer limit that. That the Board of Juvenile justice recommended. So this just sets up a process for the Department of Juvenile justice to really justify why they're keeping a youth longer than the recommended schedule. And they have to provide information. Did…
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