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2020 Session

Budget Bill - SB29 (Introduced)

Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security

Item 381

Item 381 (Not set out)

First Year - FY2019Second Year - FY2020
Administrative and Support Services (79900)$1,323,142$1,223,142
General Management and Direction (79901)FY2019 $1,323,142FY2020 $1,223,142
Fund Sources:  
GeneralFY2019 $1,323,142FY2020 $1,223,142

Authority: Title 2.2, Chapter 2, Article 8, and § 2.2-201, Code of Virginia.


A. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall present revised six-year state and local juvenile and state and local responsibility adult offender population forecasts to the Governor, the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, and the Chairmen of the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees by October 15 of each year. The secretary shall ensure that the revised forecast for state-responsible adult offenders shall include an estimate of the number of probation violators included each year within the overall population forecast who may be appropriate for alternative sanctions.


B. The secretary shall continue to work with other secretaries to (i) develop services intended to improve the re-entry of offenders from prisons and jails to general society and (ii) enhance the coordination of service delivery to those offenders by all state agencies. The secretary shall provide a status report on actions taken to improve offender transitional and reentry services, as provided in § 2.2-221.1, Code of Virginia, including improvements to the preparation and provision for employment, treatment, and housing opportunities for those being released from incarceration. The report shall be provided to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees no later than November 15 of each year.


C. Included in the appropriation for this item is $500,000 the first year and $500,000 the second year from the general fund for the Commonwealth's nonfederal cost match requirement to accomplish the United States Corps of Engineers Regional Reconnaissance Flood Control Study for both the Hampton Roads and Northern Neck regions as authorized by the U.S. Congress. Any balances not needed to complete these studies may be used to conduct a comparable study in the Northern Virginia region. 


D. The appropriation in this item includes $150,000 the first year from the general fund to fulfill the requirements set forth in § 2.2-222.2, Code of Virginia, and to assess and prioritize the systems that require upgrade to ensure the Commonwealth's goals for interoperability. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall submit a report detailing costs associated with the upgrade to achieve statewide interoperability to the Governor, the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, and the Department of Planning and Budget by November 1, 2018.


E.1. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall convene and expand the workgroup created pursuant to paragraph 73.U of this act. The expanded work group shall examine the workload impact, as well as other fiscal and policy impacts, on the Commonwealth's public safety and judicial agencies as a whole. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall submit the recommendations of the working group to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by November 15, 2019. All state agencies and local subdivisions shall provide assistance as requested by the working group.


2. The expanded workgroup shall include representatives of the Supreme Court, the State Compensation Board, staff of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, Department of Criminal Justice Services, Commonwealth's Attorneys, local governments, and other stakeholders deemed appropriate by the Secretary.


3. Prior to the preparation of the November 15, 2019 report, each Commonwealth's Attorney's office in a locality that employs body worn cameras, in conjunction with the law enforcement agency using body worn cameras, shall report to the Compensation Board and the workgroup the following information on a quarterly basis, in a format prescribed by the Board:


a. The number of hours of body worn camera video footage received from their law enforcement agencies. The number of hours should additionally be broken down into corresponding categories of felonies, misdemeanors and traffic offenses. Any recorded event that results in charges for two or more of the above categories shall be reported in the most serious category;


b. The number of hours spent in the course of redacting videos; and


c. Any other data determined relevant and necessary by the workgroup for this analysis.


F. Included in the amounts appropriated for this item is $50,000 from the general fund in the second year for the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to develop a plan for implementation for a statewide school safety mobile application to be accessed by all school divisions. The Secretary shall submit his plan to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by December 1, 2019.


G. The Secretary shall convene a workgroup to review the effectiveness of Virginia's Sex Offender Registry requirements. The workgroup shall examine and report on: (1) the feasibility of implementing a multi-tiered risk-based classification system; (2) the feasibility and public safety considerations of implementing differentiated registration requirements for juvenile and/or misdemeanor offenders; (3) the feasibility and public safety considerations of implementing an automatic removal process for meeting certain criteria; (4) an evaluation of the requirements to post employer information on the registry; and (5) the feasibility of implementing a multi-disciplinary Sex Offender Management Board that would provide evidence-based input on proposed changes to sex offender laws in the Commonwealth. The workgroup shall identify and compare the requirements for registration imposed by the federal government, by the other 49 states and the Commonwealth, and include this information as context in the report. The workgroup shall report on its work by November 15, 2020.


H. The Secretary of Public Safety, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, shall convene a workgroup to report on the feasibility of increasing access to sex offender treatment for inmates held in the Commonwealth's adult correctional centers. The workgroup shall identify the different types of sex offender treatment currently available at the Department of Corrections and the numbers of offenders treated annually in each program. The workgroup shall consider the most effective time during an inmate's confinement to screen for treatment, and whether the existing Departmental policy should be modified. The report shall also recommend specific short- and long-term strategies for the Commonwealth to employ, and identify staffing and other costs required for implementation. The report shall be submitted to the Governor and Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by November 15, 2020.