VA HB 244
in committeeRobbery; conforms certain provisions of Code to degrees of robbery offenses.
Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower
Description
Robbery. Conforms certain provisions of the Code referencing robbery to the degrees of robbery offenses established by Chapter 534 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021, Special Session I. These changes include: (i) limiting to the three higher degrees of robbery certain non-robbery crimes for which committing such crime with the intent to commit a robbery is an element of the offenses, (ii) limiting the types of robbery that are included in the definition of "acts of violence" to the two higher degrees of robbery, (iii) clarifying how robbery offenses will be scored on the sentencing guidelines, (iv) allowing persons convicted of the two lesser degrees of robbery to be eligible for conditional release if they are terminally ill and for enhanced earned sentence credits, (v) allowing persons who are ineligible for parole as a result of being convicted of three of certain enumerated offenses to be eligible for parole if convicted of an offense that would constitute robbery by presenting of firearms, and (vi) limiting the application of the three-strikes law to the two higher degrees of robbery and making persons convicted under the three-strikes law eligible for parole if one of the three convictions resulting in the mandatory life sentence would constitute one of the two lesser degrees of robbery. The bill leaves unchanged the current law making all degrees of robbery predicate criminal acts by adding the two lesser degrees of robbery to the definition of "predicate criminal act" and specifying that the two higher degrees of robbery are included in the definition of "act of violence." The bill requires the changes made to the eligibility for conditional release of terminally ill prisoners and enhanced earned sentence credits to apply retroactively if certain criteria are met.
- Introduced
- 2026-01-08
- Status date
- —
- Latest action
- 2026-03-09 — Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 4-N)
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Sponsors
- Vivian E. Wattsprimary
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
2026-01-08
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102503D
filing,introduction
2026-01-08
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
referral-committee
2026-01-20
Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal
referral-committee
2026-01-23
House subcommittee offered
2026-01-23
Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (7-Y 3-N)
2026-01-28
Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (14-Y 6-N)
committee-passage
2026-01-30
Read first time
reading-1
2026-02-02
Read second time
reading-2
2026-02-02
committee amendments agreed to
amendment-passage
2026-02-02
Engrossed by House as amended
2026-02-03
Read third time and passed House (64-Y 34-N 0-A)
passage,reading-3
2026-02-04
Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
2026-02-04
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
referral-committee
2026-02-11
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB244)
2026-03-02
Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (8-Y 7-N)
committee-passage
2026-03-03
Committee substitute printed 26108969D-S1
substitution
2026-03-05
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB244)
2026-03-09
Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations
referral-committee
2026-03-09
Senate committee offered
2026-03-09
Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 4-N)
Versions
Documents
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- text/html(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf
Votes
Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s)
2026-01-23 · pass · 8-3
Member-level votes (11)
- 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: no
- Will Davis: no
- Madison Whittle: no
- Patrick A. Hope: yes
Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s)
2026-01-28 · pass · 14-6
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: not voting
- 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: no
- James A. "Jay" Leftwich: no
- Jason S. Ballard: no
- Wren M. Williams: not voting
- Will Davis: no
- Madison Whittle: no
- Justin Pence: no
H VOTE:
2026-02-03 · pass · 64-34
Member-level votes (100)
- Jessica L. Anderson: yes
- Bonita G. Anthony: yes
- Alex Q. Askew: yes
- Terry L. Austin: no
- Jason S. Ballard: yes
- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker: yes
- Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: no
- Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
- Katrina Callsen: yes
- Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
- Betsy B. Carr: yes
- Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
- Mike A. Cherry: no
- Nadarius E. Clark: yes
- Laura Jane Cohen: yes
- Joshua G. Cole: yes
- Nicole Cole: yes
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
- Mitchell Cornett: no
- Rae Cousins: yes
- Will Davis: no
- 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: no
- Karen Keys-Gamarra: not voting
- Terry G. Kilgore: no
- Barry D. Knight: not voting
- Paul E. Krizek: yes
- Amy J. Laufer: yes
- James A. "Jay" Leftwich: no
- 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: no
- Joseph P. McNamara: no
- Delores L. McQuinn: yes
- Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
- James W. Morefield: no
- May Nivar: yes
- Delores Oates: no
- Israel D. O'Quinn: no
- Justin Pence: no
- Eric Phillips: no
- Kimberly Pope Adams: yes
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
- Sam Rasoul: yes
- Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
- David A. Reid: yes
- Chris S. Runion: no
- Charlie Schmidt: yes
- Don Scott: yes
- Phillip A. Scott: no
- Holly M. Seibold: yes
- 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: no
- Joshua E. Thomas: yes
- Virgil Thornton: yes
- Luke E. Torian: yes
- Kathy K.L. Tran: yes
- H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: no
- Wendell S. Walker: no
- Jeion A. Ward: yes
- R. Lee Ware: no
- Vivian E. Watts: yes
- Michael J. Webert: no
- Madison Whittle: no
- Bill Wiley: no
- Rodney T. Willett: yes
- Wren M. Williams: no
- Tony O. Wilt: no
- Thomas C. Wright, Jr.: no
- Scott A. Wyatt: no
- Eric R. Zehr: no
Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute
2026-03-02 · pass · 8-7
Member-level votes (15)
- Scott A. Surovell: yes
- Mark D. Obenshain: no
- Ryan T. McDougle: no
- R. Creigh Deeds: yes
- Richard H. Stuart: no
- William M. Stanley, Jr.: no
- Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
- Mark J. Peake: no
- Jennifer D. Carroll Foy: yes
- Russet Perry: no
- Saddam Azlan Salim: yes
- Barbara A. Favola: yes
- Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr.: no
- Kannan Srinivasan: yes
- Michael J. Jones: yes
S VOTE:
2026-03-02 · pass · 15-0
Member-level votes (15)
- Scott A. Surovell: yes
- Mark D. Obenshain: yes
- Ryan T. McDougle: yes
- R. Creigh Deeds: yes
- Richard H. Stuart: yes
- William M. Stanley, Jr.: yes
- Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
- Mark J. Peake: yes
- Jennifer D. Carroll Foy: yes
- Russet Perry: yes
- Saddam Azlan Salim: yes
- Barbara A. Favola: yes
- Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr.: yes
- Kannan Srinivasan: yes
- Michael J. Jones: yes
Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations
2026-03-09 · pass · 10-4
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: not voting
- Bryce E. Reeves: yes
- Barbara A. Favola: yes
- Scott A. Surovell: yes
- Jeremy S. McPike: yes
- Jennifer B. Boysko: no
- Todd E. Pillion: yes
- Aaron R. Rouse: no
- Lamont Bagby: no
- Lashrecse D. Aird: no
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z
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 244. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.
Known limitations
- Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
- Committee referrals are not yet captured.
- Some documents have no extracted text yet, so version comparison may be limited.
See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.