Animal Cruelty Conviction List; established.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text does not specify that individuals must pay a $50 fee for each conviction or that names will be removed after 15 years without additional felony convictions.

Animal Cruelty Conviction List

This bill requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to create a public list of people charged with or convicted of certain animal cruelty offenses and maintain it on an online case information system.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to establish and maintain an Animal Cruelty List by January 1, 2028.
• Includes names of individuals charged with or convicted of specific animal cruelty crimes starting from July 1, 2026.
• The bill does not specify a fee for maintaining the list.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who are charged with or convicted of certain animal cruelty offenses starting July 1, 2026.
• The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court and their department.

Terms To Know

Felony

A serious crime that is punishable by more than one year in prison or a death sentence.

Conviction

When someone is found guilty of a crime after being tried in court.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if the fee for maintaining the list is not paid.
• It's unclear how the list will be used or who might use it once it’s available online.

Official Summary Text

Animal Cruelty Conviction List established.
Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish no later than January 1, 2028, and to maintain an Animal Cruelty Conviction List and to make the List publicly available on the Department of State Police's website. The bill specifies that the List include the names of persons convicted of certain felony animal cruelty offenses on or after July 1, 2026. The bill requires persons convicted of any such offense to pay a fee of $50 per conviction to fund the maintenance of the List. The bill requires the Department to remove a person's name and information from the List 15 years after its listing if he has no additional felony conviction for any such offense. Finally, the bill directs the Department to develop forms to implement and enforce the provisions of the bill, including the operation and maintenance of the List and the removal of the records of persons who are deceased, whose convictions have been reversed, or who have been pardoned.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL NO. 673

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee for Courts of Justice

on ________________)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate McLaughlin)

A BILL to direct the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia to include a separate animal cruelty list on the online case information system.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.
§ 1.
That the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court
of Virginia

(the Executive Secretary)
shall
, no later than January 1, 2028,

include
on the publicly viewable case information system
established pursuant to §
17.1-293.1
of the Code of Virginia
a separate Animal Cruelty List (the List) to serve as a database of information regarding
persons
charged or
convicted
on or after July 1, 2026,
of a
ny
violation of the prohibition against (i) cruelty to animals as provided by §
3.2-6570
of the Code of Virginia
; (ii) animal fi
ghting as provided by §
3.2-6571
of the Code of Virginia
; (iii) maiming, killing, or poisoning an animal as provided by §
18.2-144
of the Code of Virginia
; or (iv) killing or injuring a police animal as provided by §
18.2-144.1
of the Code of Virginia
. Information on the List shall include the name of the offender at the time of
the charge or
conviction as well as the offense for which the offender was
charged or
convicted and the date and jurisdic
tion of
such charge or
conviction.