HB361 • 2026

Earned sentence credits; incarceration while awaiting trial or pending an appeal, effective date.

An Act to amend and reenact § 53.1-202.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to earned sentence credits; incarceration while awaiting trial or pending an appeal.

Children Crime

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Seibold
Last action: 2026-04-13
Official status: Acts of Assembly Chapter
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not specify that the law applies only to those incarcerated on a specific date or requires completion of reentry programs for release eligibility.

Earned Sentence Credits for Incarceration Time

This law changes how people earn sentence credits by including time spent in jail before trial or during an appeal.

What This Bill Does

Changes the rules so that time spent in jail waiting for a trial or while an appeal is happening counts towards earned sentence credits.

Who It Names or Affects

People who are convicted of felonies and sentenced to jail time.
Juveniles who are tried as adults and sentenced under special rules.

Terms To Know

earned sentence credits: Time off a person's jail sentence for good behavior or completing programs while in jail.
retroactive: Applying new rules to situations that happened before the rule was made.

Limits and Unknowns

The law will not take effect until July 1, 2028.
People who are released early because of this change cannot claim they were wrongly kept in jail longer than necessary.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HB361AC

2026-03-14 • Conference

Conference Report

Plain English: The amendment recommends accepting a substitute Senate Amendment to resolve disagreements about House Bill No. 361, which deals with earned sentence credits and incarceration while awaiting trial or appeal.

Accepts a substitute Senate Amendment to address differences in the bill.

The official amendment text does not provide specific details about the changes made by the substitute Senate Amendment, making it hard to explain concrete changes.
Further information is needed from the actual content of the Senate Amendment to understand its impact fully.

HB361AHC1

2026-01-21

Courts of Justice Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies the bill to include time spent in detention awaiting trial or a final conviction order and clarifies that earned sentence credits apply to state or local incarceration.

Adds language to clarify that time spent in detention while waiting for a trial or a final conviction order is included when calculating earned sentence credits.
Specifies that the earned sentence credits can be applied to both state and local incarceration, not just one or the other.

The amendment text does not provide details on how the additional time in detention will be calculated or if there are any specific requirements for a 'plan' mentioned in line 34.

HB361AHC2

2026-01-21 • Committee

Criminal Subcommittee Amendment

Adds language to clarify that time spent in detention while waiting for a trial or a final conviction order is included when calculating earned sentence credits.
Specifies that the earned sentence credits can be applied to both state and local incarceration, not just one or the other.

The amendment text does not provide details on how the additional time in detention will affect the calculation of earned sentence credits beyond including it.

HB361AH1

2026-01-29 • Committee

Courts of Justice Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies the bill to include time spent in detention awaiting trial or a final conviction order when calculating earned sentence credits and clarifies that these credits apply to both state and local detentions.

Adds language to clarify that time spent in detention while waiting for a trial or a final conviction order is included when calculating earned sentence credits.
Specifies that the earned sentence credits apply to both state and local detentions.

The amendment does not provide details on how these changes will affect existing laws or regulations beyond what is explicitly stated.

Bill History

2026-04-13 Governor
Approved by Governor-Chapter 596 (effective 7/1/2026)
2026-04-13 Governor
Approved by Governor-Chapter596 (Effective 7/1/2028)
2026-04-13 Governor
Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0596)
2026-04-01 House
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB361)
2026-03-31 House
Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026
2026-03-31 Governor
Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026
2026-03-31 House
Signed by Speaker
2026-03-31 House
Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026
2026-03-31 Governor
Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026
2026-03-30 Senate
Signed by President
2026-03-30 House
Enrolled
2026-03-30 House
Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB361ER)
2026-03-16 House
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB361)
2026-03-14 House
Conference report agreed to by House (65-Y 31-N 0-A)
2026-03-13 Conference
Conference Report released
2026-03-13 Conference
Conference Report released
2026-03-13 Senate
Conference report agreed to by Senate (21-Y 18-N 0-A)
2026-03-12 Senate
Senate requested conference committee
2026-03-12 Senate
Senate Conferees: Perry, Boysko, McDougle
2026-03-12 Senate
Conferees appointed by Senate
2026-03-12 Senate
Senate insisted on substitute
2026-03-12 Senate
Senate insisted on substitute Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
2026-03-12 House
House acceded to request
2026-03-12 House
Conferees appointed by House
2026-03-12 House
House Conferees: Seibold, Schmidt, Williams
2026-03-11 House
Senate substitute rejected by House (1-Y 98-N 0-A)
2026-03-09 Senate
Read third time
2026-03-09 Senate
Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute
2026-03-09 Finance and Appropriations
Finance and Appropriations Substitute agreed to
2026-03-09 Senate
Passed Senate with substitute (21-Y 19-N 0-A)
2026-03-06 Senate
Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
2026-03-06 Senate
Passed by for the day
2026-03-05 Senate
Rules suspended
2026-03-05 Senate
Rules suspended
2026-03-05 Senate
Passed by for the day
2026-03-05 Finance and Appropriations
Committee substitute printed 26109145D-S1
2026-03-05 Senate
Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
2026-03-05 Senate
Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
2026-03-04 Finance and Appropriations
Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute (11-Y 4-N)
2026-02-23 Courts of Justice
Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 6-N)
2026-02-18 Senate
Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
2026-02-18 Courts of Justice
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
2026-02-18 House
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB361)
2026-02-17 House
Read third time and passed House (69-Y 27-N 0-A)
2026-02-16 House
Read second time
2026-02-16 House
committee amendments agreed to
2026-02-16 House
Engrossed by House as amended
2026-02-13 House
Read first time
2026-02-11 Appropriations
Reported from Appropriations (15-Y 7-N)
2026-02-11 Transportation & Public Safety
Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 2-N)
2026-02-03 Courts of Justice
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB361)
2026-01-29 Transportation & Public Safety
Assigned HAPP sub: Transportation & Public Safety
2026-01-28 Courts of Justice
Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) and referred to Appropriations (16-Y 3-N)
2026-01-21 Criminal
Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 1-N)
2026-01-21 Criminal
House subcommittee offered
2026-01-20 Criminal
Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal
2026-01-12 House
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100485D
2026-01-12 Courts of Justice
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice

Official Summary Text

Earned sentence credits; incarceration while awaiting trial or pending an appeal.
Provides that a person's eligibility for earned sentence credits includes any period of time actually spent in any state or local correctional facility, state hospital, or juvenile detention facility awaiting trial or pending an appeal that was deducted from such person's term of incarceration or detention. The bill provides that the provisions apply retroactively to any person who is confined in any state or local correctional facility on July 1, 2028. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2028.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

An Act to amend and reenact §
53.1-202.2
of the Code of Virginia, relating to earned sentence credits; incarceration while awaiting trial or pending an appeal.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §
53.1-202.2
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§
53.1-202.2
. Eligibility for earned sentence credits.
A. Every person who is convicted of a felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995, and who is sentenced to serve a term of incarceration in a state or local correctional facility shall be eligible to earn sentence credits in the manner prescribed by this article. Such eligibility shall commence upon the person's incarceration in any correctional facility following entry of a final order of conviction by the committing court
and shall include any period of time actually spent in any state or local correctional facility, state hospital, or juvenile detention facility for such offense deducted from such person's term of incarceration or detention pursuant to §
53.1-187
. All time actually spent by a person in confinement or detention, including such time spent awaiting trial or entry of a final order of conviction by the committing court, shall be used in calculating such person's earned sentence credits
. As used in this chapter, "sentence credit" and "earned sentence credit" mean deductions from a person's term of confinement earned through adherence to rules prescribed pursuant to §
53.1-25
, through program participation as required by §§
53.1-32.1
and
53.1-202.3
, and by meeting such other requirements as may be established by law or regulation. One earned sentence credit shall equal a deduction of one day from a person's term of incarceration.
B. A juvenile convicted as an adult and sentenced as a serious juvenile offender under clause (i) of subdivision A 1 of §
16.1-272
shall be eligible to earn sentence credits for the portion of the sentence served with the Department of Juvenile Justice in the manner prescribed by this article. Consideration for earned sentence credits shall require adherence to the facility's rules and the juvenile's progress toward treatment goals and objectives while sentenced as a serious juvenile offender under §
16.1-285.1
.
2. That the provisions of §
53.1-202.2
of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act, shall apply retroactively to any person who is confined in any state or local correctional facility on July 1, 2028. If it is determined that, upon retroactive application of the provisions of §
53.1-202.2
of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act, the newly determined release date of any such person was prior to the effective date of this act, the person shall be released upon approval of an appropriate release plan, if required, and within 60 days of such determination unless otherwise mandated by court order; however, no person shall have a claim for wrongful incarceration pursuant to §
8.01-195.11
of the Code of Virginia on the basis of such retroactive application. If a person is released prior to completion of any reentry programs deemed necessary by the Department of Corrections on the person's most recent annual review or prior to completion of any programs mandated by court order, the person shall be required to complete such programs under probation, provided probation is mandated by the court and current community resources are sufficient to facilitate completion of the aforementioned programs.
3. That the provisions of this act shall become effective on July 1, 2028.