Bill Commons

VA HB 127

Status unknown

Person not free on bail; court appearance, right to counsel.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower

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Quick answers

Did VA HB 127 pass?

The current status of VA HB 127 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-03-03): Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N 1-A)

What is VA HB 127 about?

Court appearance of a person not free on bail. Makes various changes to provisions regarding bail hearings in jurisdictions having a public defender office, including (i) the appointment of counsel for the accused and (ii) a requirement that counsel for the accused, when practicable, be provided with adequate time to confer with the accused prior to any bail hearing. The bill also allows a jurisdiction that does not have a public defender office establish to implement such provisions. The bill provides that, effective in due course, the chief judge in each circuit shall create a plan to be completed by November 1, 2026, that establishes the means by which the jurisdiction will meet such provisions. The remaining provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.

Who sponsors VA HB 127?

Katrina Callsen is the primary sponsor of VA HB 127, joined by 2 cosponsors.

Description

Court appearance of a person not free on bail. Makes various changes to provisions regarding bail hearings in jurisdictions having a public defender office, including (i) the appointment of counsel for the accused and (ii) a requirement that counsel for the accused, when practicable, be provided with adequate time to confer with the accused prior to any bail hearing. The bill also allows a jurisdiction that does not have a public defender office establish to implement such provisions. The bill provides that, effective in due course, the chief judge in each circuit shall create a plan to be completed by November 1, 2026, that establishes the means by which the jurisdiction will meet such provisions. The remaining provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.

Introduced
2026-01-02
Latest action
2026-03-03 — Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N 1-A)
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Katrina Callsenprimary
  • Charlie Schmidtcosponsor
  • Rae Cousinscosponsor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-03-03

    Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N 1-A)

  2. 2026-03-02

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB127)

  3. 2026-02-23

    Committee substitute printed 26108450D-S1

    substitution

  4. 2026-02-23

    Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 3-N)

    committee-passage

  5. 2026-02-19

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB127)

  6. 2026-02-16

    Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice

    referral-committee

  7. 2026-02-16

    Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)

  8. 2026-02-13

    Read third time and passed House (84-Y 10-N 0-A)

    passage,reading-3

  9. 2026-02-12

    Engrossed by House - committee substitute as amended

    substitution

  10. 2026-02-12

    committee amendment agreed to

    amendment-passage

  11. 2026-02-12

    committee substitute agreed to

    substitution

  12. 2026-02-12

    Read second time

    reading-2

  13. 2026-02-11

    Read first time

    reading-1

  14. 2026-02-09

    Reported from Appropriations with amendment(s) (21-Y 1-N)

    committee-passage

  15. 2026-02-06

    Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (7-Y 0-N)

  16. 2026-02-06

    House subcommittee offered

  17. 2026-02-05

    Assigned HAPP sub: General Government and Capital Outlay

    referral-committee

  18. 2026-02-04

    Committee substitute printed 26106177D-H1

    substitution

  19. 2026-02-04

    Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and referred to Appropriations (22-Y 0-N)

    committee-passage

  20. 2026-02-04

    Racial and Ethnic Impact Statement From JLARC (2/4/2026 11:49 am)

  21. 2026-02-04

    Racial and Ethnic Impact Statement From JLARC (2/4/2026 11:36 am)

  22. 2026-01-28

    Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute and referring to Appropriations (9-Y 0-N)

    substitution

  23. 2026-01-28

    House subcommittee offered

  24. 2026-01-22

    Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal

    referral-committee

  25. 2026-01-21

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB127)

  26. 2026-01-02

    Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice

    referral-committee

  27. 2026-01-02

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101174D

    filing,introduction

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute

    2026-01-28 · pass · 9-0

    Member-level votes (10)
    • Vivian E. Watts: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Phil M. Hernandez: yes
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
    • Charlie Schmidt: yes
    • Wren M. Williams: not voting
    • Will Davis: yes
    • Madison Whittle: yes
  • Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute

    2026-02-04 · pass · 22-0

    Member-level votes (22)
    • Patrick A. Hope: yes
    • Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
    • Vivian E. Watts: yes
    • Marcus B. Simon: yes
    • Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Phil M. Hernandez: yes
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • Karen Keys-Gamarra: yes
    • Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
    • Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
    • Virgil Thornton: yes
    • Charlie Schmidt: yes
    • Terry G. Kilgore: yes
    • James A. "Jay" Leftwich: yes
    • Jason S. Ballard: yes
    • Wren M. Williams: yes
    • Will Davis: yes
    • Madison Whittle: yes
    • Justin Pence: yes
  • Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s)

    2026-02-06 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr.: yes
    • Delores L. McQuinn: yes
    • David A. Reid: yes
    • Briana D. Sewell: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
    • James W. Morefield: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
  • Reported from Appropriations with amendment(s)

    2026-02-09 · pass · 21-1

    Member-level votes (22)
    • Luke E. Torian: yes
    • Betsy B. Carr: yes
    • Delores L. McQuinn: yes
    • Paul E. Krizek: yes
    • C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr.: yes
    • David A. Reid: yes
    • Rodney T. Willett: yes
    • Briana D. Sewell: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: yes
    • Charniele L. Herring: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
    • Kathy K.L. Tran: yes
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • Joshua E. Thomas: yes
    • Amy J. Laufer: yes
    • Terry L. Austin: yes
    • James W. Morefield: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
    • M. Keith Hodges: yes
    • Scott A. Wyatt: no
    • Bill Wiley: yes
    • Ellen H. McLaughlin: yes
  • H VOTE:

    2026-02-13 · pass · 84-10

    Member-level votes (100)
    • Jessica L. Anderson: yes
    • Bonita G. Anthony: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: yes
    • Terry L. Austin: yes
    • Jason S. Ballard: yes
    • Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
    • Betsy B. Carr: yes
    • Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: yes
    • Nadarius E. Clark: not voting
    • Laura Jane Cohen: yes
    • Joshua G. Cole: yes
    • Nicole Cole: not voting
    • Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: not voting
    • Mitchell Cornett: no
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Will Davis: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Lindsey Dougherty: yes
    • Mark C. Downey: yes
    • Michael B. Feggans: yes
    • Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: no
    • Lily V. Franklin: yes
    • Margaret A. Franklin: yes
    • Debra D. Gardner: yes
    • Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: no
    • Jackie H. Glass: yes
    • Timothy P. Griffin: no
    • Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
    • Karen Hamilton: no
    • C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr.: yes
    • Dan I. Helmer: yes
    • Rozia A. Henson, Jr.: yes
    • Phil M. Hernandez: yes
    • Charniele L. Herring: yes
    • M. Keith Hodges: no
    • Patrick A. Hope: yes
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: yes
    • Karen Keys-Gamarra: yes
    • Terry G. Kilgore: yes
    • Barry D. Knight: not voting
    • Paul E. Krizek: yes
    • Amy J. Laufer: yes
    • James A. "Jay" Leftwich: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
    • Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
    • Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
    • Marty Martinez: yes
    • John Chilton McAuliff: yes
    • Adele Y. McClure: yes
    • Garrett McGuire: yes
    • Ellen H. McLaughlin: yes
    • Joseph P. McNamara: no
    • Delores L. McQuinn: yes
    • Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
    • James W. Morefield: yes
    • May Nivar: yes
    • Delores Oates: no
    • Israel D. O'Quinn: yes
    • Justin Pence: yes
    • Eric Phillips: yes
    • Kimberly Pope Adams: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
    • Sam Rasoul: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • David A. Reid: yes
    • Chris S. Runion: yes
    • Charlie Schmidt: yes
    • Don Scott: yes
    • Phillip A. Scott: no
    • Holly M. Seibold: not voting
    • Briana D. Sewell: yes
    • Irene Shin: yes
    • Marcus B. Simon: yes
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • JJ Singh: yes
    • Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.: yes
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: yes
    • Joshua E. Thomas: yes
    • Virgil Thornton: yes
    • Luke E. Torian: yes
    • Kathy K.L. Tran: yes
    • H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: yes
    • Wendell S. Walker: yes
    • Jeion A. Ward: yes
    • R. Lee Ware: yes
    • Vivian E. Watts: yes
    • Michael J. Webert: yes
    • Madison Whittle: yes
    • Bill Wiley: yes
    • Rodney T. Willett: yes
    • Wren M. Williams: yes
    • Tony O. Wilt: yes
    • Thomas C. Wright, Jr.: yes
    • Scott A. Wyatt: not voting
    • Eric R. Zehr: no
  • Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute

    2026-02-23 · pass · 11-3

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Scott A. Surovell: yes
    • Mark D. Obenshain: no
    • Ryan T. McDougle: yes
    • R. Creigh Deeds: yes
    • Richard H. Stuart: not voting
    • William M. Stanley, Jr.: yes
    • Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
    • Mark J. Peake: no
    • Jennifer D. Carroll Foy: yes
    • Russet Perry: yes
    • Saddam Azlan Salim: yes
    • Barbara A. Favola: yes
    • Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr.: no
    • Kannan Srinivasan: yes
    • Michael J. Jones: yes
  • Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations

    2026-03-03 · pass · 13-0

    Member-level votes (15)
    • L. Louise Lucas: yes
    • R. Creigh Deeds: yes
    • Mamie E. Locke: yes
    • Ryan T. McDougle: yes
    • Mark D. Obenshain: yes
    • Richard H. Stuart: yes
    • Bryce E. Reeves: yes
    • Barbara A. Favola: yes
    • Scott A. Surovell: yes
    • Jeremy S. McPike: yes
    • Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
    • Todd E. Pillion: yes
    • Aaron R. Rouse: yes
    • Lamont Bagby: not voting
    • Lashrecse D. Aird: abstain

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=VA&identifier=HB 127. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

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