The Amazing, Miraculous Passage Of HB1030

None of us dreamed this would pass both the House and Senate without a single opposing vote.

Early last year my friend Jonathan White at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center contacted some of us with the Valley Justice Coalition about a project he and his friend David Carmichael had been working on for well over a year. 

White and Carmichael, still eligible for parole, having been incarcerated before 1995, the year parole was abolished in Virginia, created a draft of a bill that would provide objective criteria the parole board would be required to use in evaluating eligibility for release. The two, like multitudes of others in Virginia’s prisons, had themselves been denied parole year after year based on such things as “the seriousness of the crime” and other factors they were powerless to do anything about.

So they came up with a list of factors with point values resulting in a numerical score that would help determine an individual’s eligibility for release. These included such things as length of time served, numbers of classes and groups participated in, years of being infraction-free while incarcerated, and having a satisfactory home plan for release. Anyone with a high (good) score but being denied parole would have to be provided with a written statement of explanation.

With copies of the proposed bill in hand, several of us met with Delegate Tony Wilt last fall to ask whether he would be willing to sponsor such legislation in the 2026 General Assembly, just as he had successfully done the previous year with a bill to provide for a Public Defender’s Office for our community. After some discussion he agreed to at least give it some careful consideration. His capable assistant, Chad Funkhouser, then did some further research on the possibility and came back with an affirmative response, resulting in what became House Bill 1030.

Meanwhile we were able to get the support of formerly incarcerated community leaders, notably Kenneth Hunter of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, David Smith of S.A.L.T., Rob Poggenklass of Justice Forward Virginia, and Taj Mahon-Haft and Shawn Waneta of the Humanization Project. Waneta made some helpful suggestions for changes in some of the wording and got positive responses from some members of the parole board. Even then we remained unsure of what reception the bill would get from other lawmakers in Richmond.

To our amazement, the bill passed through two House committees and the full House of Delegates without a single dissenting vote,. It then passed the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services  Committee in a 19-0 vote, with the help of some good testimony by some of the above supporters. From there the bill went to the Senate with some minor wording changes that were incorporated in the final version. It then passed unanimously in a block vote in the Senate on Tuesday. From there it goes to Governor Spanberger for her signature.

Some 20 incarcerated persons have already written Delegate Wilt expressing their appreciation for his effort. And scores of deserving incarcerated men and women across Virginia are set to benefit from an increased opportunity to be reunited with their loved ones and have a second chance at making a positive contribution to their families and communities. Likewise, citizens across Virginia will benefit from having rehabilitated men and women added to the work force and paying taxes rather than requiring ever more tax dollars to house them in prison. Then there are the aging and ailing persons who can potentially receive care from members of their family and others on the outside, men and women who are clearly no longer a danger to their communities.

We see HB1030 as truly a miracle for which we praise God and offer thanks to the many who prayed and worked hard for its passage.