Civil rights; automatically restored to certain persons for eligibilty to register to vote. (HB16)
Introduced By
Progress
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Introduced |
X |
Passed Committee |
☐ |
Passed House |
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Passed Senate |
☐ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Restoration of civil rights. Provides for the automatic restoration of civil rights to persons convicted of nonviolent felonies (excepting felony drug and election fraud crimes) upon completion of sentence, including any term of probation or parole, and the payment of all restitution, fines, costs, and fees assessed as a result of the felony conviction. View Full Text »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
View Bill's History
Comments
Virginia Organizing strongly supports the restoration of rights for former felons who have paid their debt to society.
This is a great bill if it wasn't for the "certain persons" part. Once you've done your time, that's it. You have served your sentence and when it's over, it's over. So, as it is proposed, it still has the odor of "Jim Crow".
It's a shame that this bill was killed in sub-committee. Richmond remains one of two states that retain life-long denial of rights to those convicted of a felony.
And I support granting full rights upon release, no matter what your crime. If you do the time, you should not have to bear additional punishment in the form of disenfranchisement.
If the subcomitte would amend the bill to include ~all~ those released from custody, it would be a great leap for Virginia to join the rest of the states with regards to ex-prisoner reforms. Until then, we're still provencial hard-heads. I think that after Richmond was the capitol of the Confederacy, we've held this grudge for losing the honor and just have to do the things the other states don't.
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