Latest news with #ScottSurovell
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Virginia AG, top Democrat spar over fate of Youngkin university picks
A dispute over Gov. Glenn Youngkin's picks for eight university board seats escalated Wednesday as the Virginia attorney general and the Senate majority leader sent dueling letters over whether the appointees can still serve. Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) told university rectors on Monday that the members could no longer be on the boards, effective immediately, after a Senate committee rejected the eight appointments.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Virginia clean slate law will create high demand for legal aid, experts say
RICHMOND — A new 'clean slate' law set to take effect next year will shield some past crimes from public viewing. Advocates say that matters for people whose convictions haunt them for years after they've served their time. And legal experts say there's much to be done to prepare for the influx of people who will want to have their previous convictions sealed. Attorney Scott Surovell, a Democratic state senator representing Fairfax, said people were already lining up to take advantage of the new law. 'I've got a list of about 30 people who contacted me over the last five years that want me to file sentence sealing petitions for them,' Surovell said Wednesday when he joined a panel of lawmakers and advocates to discuss the law's impacts. 'I have one client I've been waiting for 20, 30 years to do this… He's going to be the first one I file for. 'He had a petty larceny conviction for a $205 bag of baseball equipment when he was in high school and (it's been) following him around the rest of his life.' The clean state law says qualifying misdemeanors and felonies can be sealed after seven years and 10 years, respectively, assuming the person doesn't commit any new crimes in the intervening time period. The legislation has a delayed start date in part to accommodate the computer programming required to get the system up and running. Previously, the law had been delayed by four years to allow for the $20 million rebuild of the system for criminal recordkeeping and to give legislators time to mend some holes in the law. There won't be another delay; Surovell said the law will take effect July 1, 2026 'come hell or high water.' Many past criminal convictions — including some felonies — to soon be sealed in Virginia 'I won't feel truly free until I can vote': Legal case challenges Virginia's voting restoration system Youngkin moves to delay controversial law sealing criminal, court records from public view There are other hurdles. Some offenses, such as marijuana possession, will automatically be sealed after the required waiting period. But most offenses that are eligible to be sealed require people to petition to do so, and that could prove challenging for an already strained legal system. 'There is a backbreaking demand out there, particularly within the low income population, for free and low cost legal services,' said Christa Gantz, director of Access to Legal Services at the Virginia State Bar, at Wednesday's panel. 'If (the case) is at all complicated, particularly the petition-based part of it, then utilizing an attorney will make a major difference in their ability to get relief.' Over 1 million Virginians qualify for legal aid, Gantz said, and though there are legal assistance programs in the civil space that could help with conviction sealings, they would require significant staff and technology resources. 'Because this is a new law, what that means is it would require new programming, and I think that the challenges there are primarily funding,' she said. 'People in need are going to be contacting the courts, but then the next step is going to be the Virginia State Bar's Access Department, and they're going to say 'where can I get help?' What I would typically do as the director is refer to them to a program. 'We don't have that yet.' Gantz said people able to pay for legal work can get started through the Virginia Lawyer Referral Service, and those who can't can get brief advice using the state bar's Virginia Free Legal Answers clinic. She thinks attorneys who do pro bono work in Virginia will be eager to help with sentence sealings, in part because they are limited in scope, don't take a ton of time and could have a big impact. George Townsend, a criminal defense attorney, founded the law firm Clean Slate Virginia in preparation for the law's passage. He estimated that over 100,000 people could qualify for automatic or petition-based sentence sealing, with the caveat that it's a difficult number to project. 'I guess one of the good things about the delay is we have more time to let people know about it,' he said. 'There's going to be a huge volume, so getting ready for that…I've done criminal defense all my career, and I've told hundreds, maybe thousands of people 'you have a conviction, there's nothing we can do.' And I found out about the law and knew it was going to be a huge change.' In preparation for the new cases, the General Assembly approved funding for an additional staff position in each clerk's office, effective as of July. 'This added capacity will help clerks manage the increased workload associated with the new law,' Townsend said. 'In my view, it would be highly beneficial if clerks permitted petitions to be filed in advance of the July 1, 2026 implementation date. 'Allowing early filings would enable a phased rollout, helping to avoid a surge of thousands of petitions on a single day and long lines forming outside courthouses across the commonwealth.' Once a conviction record is sealed, it won't show up on public background checks for things like apartment and loan applications. Some employers, like police agencies, would still be able to see the details of the criminal record. A dozen states, including Virginia, and Washington, D.C. have clean slate laws. Some legal experts maintain these kinds of laws prevent access to valuable insight on how fair the court process is and pose First Amendment right of access concerns. The counter argument is that there is a compelling public interest to have certain records sealed because of their prolonged impact. The law also indirectly addresses barrier laws, which say, for example, that people convicted of felony drug possession could not then go on to become drug counselors. The barrier laws remain in effect, but if those convictions are sealed, they will not preclude people from doing that kind of work. Kate Seltzer, (757)713-7881
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Virginia will allow for some criminal records to be sealed next year
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, virtually joins a discussion panel with criminal justice experts in Richmond on May 14, 2025 to discuss a forthcoming record-sealing law. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/ Virginia Mercury) Next summer, certain people with past convictions will be eligible to apply for their criminal records to be sealed — meaning long-past convictions won't show up on background checks. This can help people who have been formerly incarcerated and rehabilitated get a fresh start when applying for jobs, loans or apartments. The process stems from a 2021 law that underwent several years of workshopping before its delayed implementation. Starting next summer, people with some misdemeanor and felony convictions will be able to petition to have their records sealed. For felonies, people need to have had no new convictions for 10 years to be eligible, while people with misdemeanor convictions need to have no new convictions in seven years. People with Class 1 or 2 felony convictions, typically violent crimes, or charges that carry life sentences are not eligible. And petitioners must not have been convicted of a Class 3 or Class 4 felony within 20 years. For people with misdemeanors that might have been dismissed but still appear on records, expungement of records is a separate process they can seek out through their local circuit courts. While expungement has been a limited option for people in Virginia, record-sealing is new. The 2021 law's rollout has been slowed down to give circuit court clerks time to prepare for waves of people who would seek a sealing, determine how far back in court records would be permitted (prior to the 1980s, most courts weren't digitized), and compromise on the types of crimes that are eligible. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, virtually joined a panel of criminal justice experts Wednesday in Richmond to discuss the law's evolution and the journey for beneficiaries that lies ahead. 'It was important to get the system up and running and functioning,' Surovell said, noting that updates to Virginia's digital criminal record-keeping that can help streamline the process have been underway in recent years. And while he, Del. Rae Cousins, D-Richmond, and Suffolk Circuit Court Clerk Randy Carter suspect the law will need further tweaking, they celebrated the fact that it's come to fruition. With a start date of July 1, 2026, Surovell said dozens of constituents have already reached out to him to express excitement. Surovell said that one of those people had a larceny charge in his youth that has 'followed him around' for decades. Likewise, Cousins stressed her support for the law. 'It is laws like this that make it easier for people who have taken accountability who have also served their time, who have rehabilitated themselves to actually get out and have a second chance at life.' Lawyer George Townsend, who moderated the panel, said the law inspired him to found a firm called Clean Slate Virginia, specifically focused on record-sealing cases. He said he saw the law as a 'game changer' for helping people get their lives back on track and reduce recidivism. With a little more than a year before the law is effective, the panel acknowledged that public outreach about the new law will help let potential petitioners know they have this option. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
