rpogge.bsky.social
Executive Director @justicefwdva.bsky.social. Former public defender, legal aid lawyer and ACLUVA policy fellow. Cville local. Iowan.
https://justiceforwardva.com/
144 posts
469 followers
150 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
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The governor must act on all 900+ bills by March 24. The General Assembly will address his vetoes and changes in Richmond on April 2. We will be watching closely, especially on these two consequential pieces of legislation. Justice Forward. 16/16
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Both the record sealing and surveillance bills reflect several years’ worth of compromises. Both parties have impacted the final product. The governor should sign these bills without suggesting any policy changes. 15/16
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However, the governor can also make changes. Law enforcement have advocated to push the 21-day retention period in the bill back to 30 days, and to include the expansion to state highways. Either of these changes would be unacceptable. 14/16
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The governor should sign this bill. If he doesn’t, Virginia law enforcement will continue to use unregulated ALPRs to track Virginia drivers, and share that data with other states and the federal government. This is an unacceptable outcome. 13/16
bsky.app/profile/brad...
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For 3 years we @justicefwdva.bsky.social pushed to eliminate this proposed expansion and this year, the General Assembly agreed. The revised bill reduces the data retention period from 30 days to 21—we advocated for 7 days—and eliminates expansion to state highways. 12/16
bsky.app/profile/rpog...
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While HB 2724 as introduced would have regulated this technology, it did not do so sufficiently to justify another part of the bill that would have expanded ALPRs to 60,000 miles of state highways. 11/16
www.pilotonline.com/2025/01/24/f...
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On to automated license plate readers. ALPRs are already in use in many localities throughout Virginia, with no regulations. 10/16
www.pilotonline.com/2024/11/24/o...
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The governor may make some suggested changes, but he’s likely to sign the 2025 legislation because if he doesn’t, the 2021 law—with all its expanded eligibility and procedural problems—would go into effect July 1. 9/16
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The 2025 bill makes some improvements, too. No one will be charged for filing a sealing petition or an expungement petition. Probation violations and failures to appear on a charge will be sealed along with the underlying charge. 8/16
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This is regrettable, because the law already requires people go 10 years without any new convictions to seal a felony, and 7 years with no new convictions to seal a misdemeanor. The 2025 bill also delays all record sealing to January 1, 2026. 7/16
www.wric.com/news/politic...
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Because of politics, the 2025 bill excludes hundreds of offenses from eligibility that would have been eligible under the 2021 law. 6/16
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and the provisions granting people the right to an attorney in sealing cases did not account for the fact that there are not enough lawyers in Virginia to handle these cases basically for free. 5/16
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But the 2025 legislation (HB 2724 & SB 1466) was necessary because the state agencies that will carry out record sealing found significant issues with the 2021 law: the process for sealing marijuana possession records was unworkable, 4/16
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The 2021 sealing law had a 4-yr delay, so it won't take effect till July 1. Both the 2021 law and the 2025 legislation allow people to seal criminal convictions in Virginia for the very first time. Both accomplish this through both an automatic process and a court process. 3/16
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First, record sealing. In 2021, the GA passed and Gov. Northam signed an ambitious bill that I’ve written about in the linked law review article. This year, the GA didn’t scrap the 2021 bill but they made significant changes. 2/16
scholarship.richmond.edu/pilr/vol28/i...
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He has state convictions and won’t be released till at least 2035. Why are we talking about this?
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I had to check in with a friend at DOJ to make sure this wasn't her. 🫣 It wasn't.
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Take action to keep expansion of ALPRs to state highways out of HB 2724 and support first steps to regulation here:
actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
9/9
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Kudos to the VA senators who stood on principle and voted against the expansion. We appreciate you. @lashrecseaird.bsky.social @jenniferboysko.bsky.social @creighdeeds.bsky.social @barbarafavola.bsky.social @salimvasenate.bsky.social and others!
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We have opposed the expansion of ALPRs to state highways publicly for more than two years, dating back to the 2023 session when it was first introduced by then-Sen. Lynwood Lewis. Our position has not changed. See our letter from Feb. 20, 2023.
7/9
justiceforwardva.com/blog/2023/2/...
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And as soon as the bill changed yesterday to reflect SOME of the changes we asked for—moving a 30-day retention period to 21 days, eliminating the expansion to state highways—law enforcement ended its support for the bill.
They want the expansion—or no regulations at all.
6/9
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So much of the debate on this ALPR bill has been about proponents hiding the expansion. Over the weekend, when amendments were made, other advocates got confused. They believed the expansion was out. It wasn't. One organization flipped to support, then back to opposition.
5/9
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Reasonable people can disagree about #2—though we have never, on any bill in our eight years of advocacy at
@justicefwdva.bsky.social, seen as much support as we have for stopping mass surveillance. Expanding ALPRs to state highways is a DEEPLY unpopular policy.
4/9
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3. The cameras are already up.
This is by far the weakest argument. Yes, local law enforcement have ALPRs—at the cost of both money and privacy to VA taxpayers and drivers. Flock charges localities $3k/yr to rent each camera. Stop paying, and the cameras go away.
3/9
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2. Solving crime.
Here's the rub. Are we willing to have an unspecified number of crimes solved in exchange for the government tracking our vehicles' movements on every public road in Virginia? Emphatically, NO. Solving crimes is not worth the cost of mass surveillance.
2/9
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You need to find a provider who homeschools their kids. No holiday observation required
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If you want to read more about record clearance in Virginia, check out my new law review article in the @URLawSchool Public Interest Law Review: scholarship.richmond.edu/pilr/vol28/i...
25/25
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Shoutouts to @nolefturnsinc @LegalAidJustice @ssurovell @C_Herring @governorva73
and the VA Expungement Council for helping to make this incredible legislation happen.
www.29news.com/2022/03/09/e...
24/25
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Assuming HB 2723 & SB 1466 pass the House and Senate and are signed by @GovernorVA, the record sealing law will take effect on July 1, 2025.
23/25
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Making sure private background check companies and the companies who traffic in sealed records do not disclose these records is VERY DIFFICULT.
Finally, traffic infractions will be automatically sealed after 11 years unless prohibited by other laws.
22/25
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The bill also allows individuals and the Attorney General to sue companies that sell sealed criminal records on the private market. This is incredibly important because once the public records are sealed, these records will become much more valuable.
21/25
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There's more! When a person is found not guilty of a misdemeanor offense or the case is dismissed, a court will automatically seal the court record, unless the Commonwealth objects for good cause. A prosecutor must agree to seal a felony acquittal or dismissal.
20/25
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One important change in the newest version: for both sealing and expungement, people will no longer need to pay filing or service fees to file their cases! This is great news for access to justice.
lis.virginia.gov/bill-details...
19/25
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Sealing does not erase any restitution owed by the to the victim or fees owed to the court. But the fact of that debt will not prevent the person from sealing their record. THIS IS A BIG DEAL!
18/25
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More T&C: A person with substance use issues must have demonstrated rehabilitation.
Lifetime limit: A person can seal convictions from only two sentencing events in a lifetime.
Look-back date: No offenses prior to January 1, 1986 are eligible for sealing.
17/25
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A person applying to seal a misdemeanor conviction must not have any other convictions in the last 7 years; a person applying to seal a felony conviction must not have any other convictions in the last 10 years.
16/25