Capital cases; determination of mental retardation. (SB855)

Introduced By

Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Burke)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Capital cases; mental retardation. Requires that the results of an intelligence test given in the process of determining whether a capital case defendant is mentally retarded must be reported as a range of scores calculated by adding to and subtracting from the defendant's test score the standard error of measurement for such test. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Passed

History

DateAction
01/06/2015Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/15 15102310D
01/06/2015Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/08/2015Impact statement from VCSC (SB855)
01/14/2015Reported from Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/16/2015Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/19/2015Read second time and engrossed
01/20/2015Read third time
01/20/2015Passed by for the day
01/20/2015Reconsideration of Passed by for the day agreed to (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/20/2015Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/30/2015Placed on Calendar
01/30/2015Read first time
01/30/2015Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
02/09/2015Assigned Courts sub: Criminal Law
02/13/2015Impact statement from DPB (SB855)
02/16/2015Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 0-N)
02/20/2015Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/23/2015Read second time
02/24/2015Read third time
02/24/2015Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
02/24/2015VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (99-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/27/2015Enrolled
02/27/2015Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB855ER)
02/27/2015Impact statement from DPB (SB855ER)
02/27/2015Impact statement from VCSC (SB855ER)
02/27/2015Signed by Speaker
02/27/2015Signed by President
03/04/2015Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/4/15
03/04/2015G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, Sunday, March 29, 2015
03/19/2015G Approved by Governor-Chapter 360 (effective 7/1/15)
03/19/2015G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0360)

Video

This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 3 clips in all, totaling 2 minutes.

Duplicate Bills

The following bills are identical to this one: HB1720.

Comments

ACLU-VA Legislative Agenda, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

The ACLU of Virginia strongly supports legislation that would bring Virginia’s intellectual disability threshold vis-à-vis eligibility for the death penalty in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Hall v. Florida. The Court found that Florida’s use of a hard 70 IQ cutoff was unconstitutional. Virginia uses the same hard 70 IQ cutoff. While the ACLU of Virginia continues to advocate for death penalty repeal, we also support legislation designed to ensure better procedural safeguards for intellectually disabled defendants accused of a capital offense.

ACLU-VA Criminal Justice, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

The ACLU of Virginia strongly supports legislation that would bring Virginia’s intellectual disability threshold vis-à-vis eligibility for the death penalty in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Hall v. Florida. The Court found that Florida’s use of a hard 70 IQ cutoff was unconstitutional. Virginia uses the same hard 70 IQ cutoff. While the ACLU of Virginia continues to advocate for death penalty repeal, we also support legislation designed to ensure better procedural safeguards for intellectually disabled defendants accused of a capital offense.