Yesterday evening during the Virginia General Assembly passed the following police and criminal justice reforms:

HB 5049 – Demilitarizing police departments by prohibiting the acquisition and use of certain weapons and military equipment by law enforcement agencies. The bill prohibits the use of such military property by a law-enforcement officer unless a waiver has been granted by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (the Department). The bill prohibits the use of kinetic impact munitions and tear gas unless an unlawful assembly has been declared and other requirements are met. “Kinetic impact munitions” includes impact rounds and baton rounds, such as rubber batons, bean bag rounds, foam baton rounds, and plastic, wax, wood, or rubber-coated projectiles. The bill directs the Department to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill.

HB 5055 – Strengthening laws related to Citizen Review Panels. The bill provides that a law-enforcement officer who is subject to a binding disciplinary determination may file a grievance requesting a final hearing pursuant to the locality’s local grievance procedures.

HB 5099 – Prohibiting no-knock search warrants. The bill requires a law-enforcement officer to provide notice of his identity, authority, and purpose prior to entering the place to be searched and states that, after entering and securing the place to be searched and prior to undertaking any search or seizure pursuant to the search warrant, the executing officer shall read and give a copy of the search warrant to the person to be searched or the owner of the place to be searched or, if the owner is not present, to any occupant of the place to be searched. If the place to be searched is unoccupied, the executing law-enforcement officer shall leave a copy of the search warrant suitably affixed to the place to be searched.

HB 5104 – Strengthening the assessments and review of prior law-enforcement employment records required before hiring law enforcement officers. The bill further provides that no police officer, deputy sheriff, or jail officer may be employed by another law-enforcement agency or jail until the requested information is received from all prior employing agencies in the Commonwealth. The bill also requires that all law-enforcement officers undergo a psychological examination, subsequent to a conditional offer of employment, conducted under the supervision of a licensed psychologist or other licensed mental health professional as part of the minimum qualifications to be a law-enforcement officer.

The next action is for the bills to go to Governor Ralph Northam to be signed.