Lawmakers advance wide slate of public-safety bills at first crossover meeting

At the Legislature's first crossover meeting on public safety, lawmakers advanced a package of public-safety bills — including several firearms measures, a ban on isolated confinement in state correctional facilities, and bills on offender registry timing and post-release job help — moving them out of committee for consideration on the floor.

The committee reported many measures along party-line margins on firearms policy and by larger margins on reentry and administrative fixes. One witness, Bonnie Atwood, who represents the Virginia Fire Prevention Association, urged the committee to explicitly include fire marshals in one bill’s enforcement language and the committee adopted that amendment before reporting the bill. "We like the bill. We like the purpose of the bill. We are merely suggesting that fire marshals be included in the bill," Atwood said.

Why this matters: Several bills affect gun policy that lawmakers have debated in prior sessions; passage out of committee sends them toward final floor votes before the general assembly’s crossover deadline. Other measures reported without opposition would alter corrections practice or create post-release supports already included in the governor’s proposed budget, which affects the bills’ implementation timeline.

Key actions and context Lawmakers reported a mix of firearms bills, corrections reforms and administrative fixes.…