21100488D
SENATE BILL NO. 1103 Offered January 13, 2021 Prefiled December 2, 2020 A BILL to amend and reenact §2.2-3703 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Virginia Parole Board member votes. ----------
Patrons-- Suetterlein, DeSteph, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Peake, Reeves and Ruff
---------- Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §2.2-3703 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§2.2-3703. Public bodies and records to which chapter inapplicable; voter registration and election records; access by persons incarcerated in a state, local, or federal correctional facility.

A. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to:

1. The Virginia Parole Board, except that (i) information from the Virginia Parole Board providing the number of inmates considered by the Board for discretionary parole, the number of inmates granted or denied parole, and the number of parolees returned to the custody of the Department of Corrections solely as a result of a determination by the Board of a violation of parole shall be open to inspection and available for release, on a monthly basis, as provided by § 2.2-3704; (ii) all guidance documents, as defined in §2.2-4101, shall be public records and subject to the provisions of this chapter; and (iii) all records concerning the finances of the Virginia Parole Board shall be public records and subject to the provisions of this chapter; and (iv) individual Board member votes shall be public records and subject to the provisions of this chapter. The information required by clause (i) shall be furnished by offense, sex, race, age of the inmate, and the locality in which the conviction was obtained, upon the request of the party seeking the information. The information required by clause (ii) shall include all documents establishing the policy of the Board or any change in or clarification of such policy with respect to grant, denial, deferral, revocation, or supervision of parole or geriatric release or the process for consideration thereof, and shall be clearly and conspicuously posted on the Board's website. However, such information shall not include any portion of any document reflecting the application of any policy or policy change or clarification of such policy to an individual inmate;

2. Petit juries and grand juries;

3. Family assessment and planning teams established pursuant to §2.2-5207;

4. Sexual assault response teams established pursuant to § 15.2-1627.4, except that records relating to (i) protocols and policies of the sexual assault response team and (ii) guidelines for the community's response established by the sexual assault response team shall be public records and subject to the provisions of this chapter;

5. Multidisciplinary child sexual abuse response teams established pursuant to §15.2-1627.5;

6. The Virginia State Crime Commission; and

7. The records maintained by the clerks of the courts of record, as defined in §1-212, for which clerks are custodians under § 17.1-242, and courts not of record, as defined in §16.1-69.5, for which clerks are custodians under §16.1-69.54, including those transferred for storage, maintenance, or archiving. Such records shall be requested in accordance with the provisions of §§16.1-69.54:1 and 17.1-208, as appropriate. However, other records maintained by the clerks of such courts shall be public records and subject to the provisions of this chapter.

B. Public access to voter registration and election records shall be governed by the provisions of Title 24.2 and this chapter. The provisions of Title 24.2 shall be controlling in the event of any conflict.

C. No provision of this chapter or Chapter 21 (§30-178 et seq.) of Title 30 shall be construed to afford any rights to any person (i) incarcerated in a state, local or federal correctional facility, whether or not such facility is (a) located in the Commonwealth or (b) operated pursuant to the Corrections Private Management Act (§53.1-261 et seq.) or (ii) civilly committed pursuant to the Sexually Violent Predators Act (§37.2-900 et seq.). However, this subsection shall not be construed to prevent such persons from exercising their constitutionally protected rights, including, but not limited to, their right to call for evidence in their favor in a criminal prosecution.