Bill > HB1392

Introduced Session

Powers and duties for operation of local and regional correctional facilities and courthouse security; attorney access to courthouses and communication and visitation with incarcerated clients; penalty. Provides that if a sheriff allows courthouse employees to bypass any security screening required to enter a courthouse, such sheriff shall also exempt from the security screening any attorney who displays a valid Virginia State Bar-issued bar card and a government-issued identification. The bill creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any attorney who has had his license to practice law in the Commonwealth suspended or revoked and who displays a Virginia State Bar-issued bar card in an effort to be exempt from the security screening. The bill also requires the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to develop and establish minimum standards to ensure that attorneys have sufficient opportunities to have confidential visits with their clients. Lastly, the bill requires any telephonic, electronic, or web-based communication system for prisoners that is offered by a sheriff or jail superintendent who operates a local correctional facility to include a confidential means for a prisoner to communicate with his attorney at regular and reasonable times.

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Karen Keys-Gamarra (D)*,  Bonita Anthony (D),  Nadarius Clark (D),  Rae Cousins (D),  J.R. Henson (D),  Destiny LeVere Bolling (D),  Charlie Schmidt (D),  Irene Shin (D), 

Rereferred from Rehabilitation and Social Services to Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) (on 02/20/2026)

Official Document