SUDP; Office of Chief Medical Examiner to publish information on its website.
Summary
SB390 creates a new Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) Review Team within the Commonwealth and establishes a detailed framework for reviewing deaths that appear consistent with SUDEP. The bill defines SUDEP, sets out the team’s membership, authorizes it to develop operating procedures, and directs it to review qualifying cases after any law-enforcement investigation or prosecution has concluded. Its duties include improving case identification and data collection, recommending education and prevention programs, and advising on training related to SUDEP reviews.
The bill also makes the review process confidential. Information and records obtained or created by the team are exempt from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, are not subject to subpoena or discovery, and may not be used as evidence in civil, criminal, disciplinary, or licensure proceedings, except where the same information is obtained from other sources. The bill requires closed meetings for discussion of individual SUDEP cases, mandates sworn confidentiality statements for attendees, requires retention of certain records during review, and directs destruction of case materials after review is complete. It also requires annual statistical reporting to the Governor and General Assembly in non-identifying form.
Impact
SB390 amends Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act and related open-meeting provisions to add SUDEP review materials and meetings to the list of confidential records and authorized closed-session topics. It also adds a new section to the Code of Virginia establishing the SUDEP Review Team, defining its authority to access certain records, and creating confidentiality, immunity, and record-retention rules tied to its work. In addition, the bill exempts the team’s operating procedures from the Administrative Process Act and authorizes the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to hire staff if funding is provided in the 2024 general appropriation act.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have received strong support in the Senate. It was reported from the Senate Education and Health Committee on a 15-0 vote, passed constitutional reading unanimously 38-0, and was later continued to 2025 in Senate Finance and Appropriations on a 15-0 vote. The available voting record suggests broad agreement with the bill’s public health and data-review purpose, with no recorded opposition in the votes provided.
Contention
No committee transcript is provided, and the recorded votes show no opposition, so there is little evidence of active controversy in the available materials. The main policy tradeoff in the bill is between transparency and confidentiality: it expands closed-meeting authority and FOIA exemptions to protect sensitive medical, death-review, and law-enforcement-related information, while preserving public access to aggregate statistical reports. Any potential concern would likely center on privacy, evidentiary restrictions, and the scope of access to decedent health records, but those objections are not reflected in the supplied legislative history.