An Act to amend and reenact § 24.2-314 of the Code of Virginia, relating to reapportionment; reallocation of populations; civil commitment facilities.
HB59 amends Virginia’s population-counting rules for redistricting and reapportionment. It requires that people incarcerated in federal, state, or local correctional facilities, as well as people civilly committed to facilities operated by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, be counted at either their pre-incarceration or pre-commitment address if that address is in Virginia, or at the facility location if their prior address was outside Virginia or cannot be determined. The bill is aimed at ensuring these populations are allocated to the correct locality for districting purposes.
The bill also establishes a data-collection and reporting process for the decennial census year. The Department of Corrections, the State Board of Local and Regional Jails, and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services must provide specified information to the Division of Legislative Services, including a unique identifier, residence information if known, race, ethnicity, age status, and facility location. For federal correctional facilities in Virginia, DLS must request similar records from the operating agency. DLS then prepares adjusted population data for congressional, state legislative, and local election districts, while prohibiting the use of that adjusted data for distributing state or federal aid and requiring confidentiality protections for individual address information.
HB59 amends § 24.2-314 of the Code of Virginia and expands the statute’s redistricting rules to expressly include civilly committed persons alongside incarcerated persons. It changes how certain institutionalized populations are assigned for reapportionment, directs state agencies to supply census-year data to the Division of Legislative Services, and requires DLS to produce adjusted population figures used for congressional, state Senate, House of Delegates, and local district drawing. The bill does not alter aid formulas, and it preserves privacy by preventing public disclosure of individual pre-incarceration or pre-commitment addresses.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It advanced through subcommittee, committee, and floor votes in both chambers with unanimous or near-unanimous support, including 98-0 House passage and 37-0 Senate passage on the substitute. The final House agreement to the Senate substitute was also overwhelmingly approved, indicating strong bipartisan acceptance of the measure’s redistricting framework.
No significant opposition is reflected in the available votes or transcripts. The main policy issues implicit in the bill are how to count incarcerated and civilly committed people for redistricting, whether to use their home address or facility location when the prior address is unknown or out of state, and how to protect personal data while collecting the information needed for districting. Any contention would likely center on fairness in representation, treatment of institutional populations, and privacy safeguards, but the recorded legislative action shows little to no visible disagreement.