Corrections, Department of; language services for offenders.
Summary
Department of Corrections; language services for offenders. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall take reasonable steps to provide offenders with limited English proficiency meaningful access to Department facilities, services, programs, and activities to ensure that language does not prevent Department employees from communicating effectively with such offenders.
Bill status
vetoed
4 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
Vetoed
Apr 2026
Introduced Jan 13, 2026
Vetoed Apr 11, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
Engrossed
→
Enrolled
·
3 edits
·
Feb 26, 2026
MINOR
The bill was finalized for signature (Enrolled) after passing the House, resulting in the removal of all House-specific amendment markers, dates, and committee information. The actual legal text of the law regarding language services for offenders remains substantively unchanged, though minor formatting adjustments were made to align with the official enrolled style.
TECHNICAL
Removed all House-specific metadata, including the 'Engrossed' status, House amendment dates, delegate names, and committee referral details.
Deleted bracketed text from the original draft that indicated proposed additions (e.g., '[ or requires the use of sign language ]'), as these edits were finalized in the Enrolled version.
Adjusted line breaks and spacing to conform to the standard formatting of the Virginia Acts of Assembly.
Floor votes · Senate Feb 23, 2026 · House of Delegates Feb 5, 2026
How they voted
36–0
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 39
Feb 23, 2026
D
Democratic20
90% Yea
R
Republican19
94% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
29
Key actions
11
Committee
7
Amendments
2
Apr 11, 2026
Vetoed
Governor's recommendation received by House
executive
Feb 26, 2026
Upper · Passed
Signed by President
upper
Feb 26, 2026
Lower · Passed
Signed by Speaker
lower
Feb 26, 2026
Lower · Passed
Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB553ER)
lower
Feb 24, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed Senate (23-Y 16-N 0-A)
upper
Feb 23, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
upper
Feb 20, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services (11-Y 4-N)
upper
Feb 6, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services
upper
Feb 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
Read third time and passed House (68-Y 30-N 0-A)
lower
Feb 4, 2026
Introduced
Engrossed by House as amended
lower
Feb 4, 2026
Lower · Passed
committee amendments agreed to
lower
Jan 30, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported from Public Safety with amendment(s) (16-Y 5-N)
lower
Jan 29, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (6-Y 1-N)
lower
Jan 29, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
Assigned HMPPS sub: Subcommittee #2
lower
Jan 13, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Public Safety
lower
0 primary · 5 co-sponsors
Sponsors
No sponsor information available.
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