Removing suicide from any association with criminality in Virginia (even "common law") is long overdue. Research shows that stigmatizing mental illness only serves to discourage people from talking about their distress and seeking help.

Hello, I’m Andrea Walker from Arlington. I’m here to support HB43 which abolishes suicide as a common law crime in Virginia. That it’s still on the books is reprehensible. How can we speak of suicide prevention and then leave suicide as a common law crime on the books? Think of our military heroes who later die by suicide. Should they really be considered common law criminals? That stigma needs to be erased. And you can do it. HB 43 is truly a bipartisan bill. We are all affected in some way by suicide. With HB 43 no one is Republican or Democrat: one is only a compassionate person doing the right thing at the right time to help reduce the sigma of suicide. Thank you.

Please accept the attached document detailing NAMI Virginia's strong support of HB43.

Please accept my attached statement on HB43. Thank you. Sharon Webster

My 15-year-old son took his life after years of struggling valiantly to overcome his serious mental illness. 27 years later, his death remains devastating. The fact that the state considers this gentle, kind, tortured soul a criminal is unfathomable and adds to the tremendous pain of our loss. Please vote yes on HB 43.

Everyone should have an option of a jury trial . I also believe the jury should understand that their are guide lines to each offense they should not be able to go over the guide lines each crime should have a certain amount of time and if duplicate charges they also should have guide lines so say speeding is 10 days in jail second speeding is 20 days in jail . It shouldn't be different one person goes to jail for a year and another goes for 10 days . That is how it is right now.

It is time to enact ong overdue reform in our prisons, jails, and courts.

Exploited children should be treated as victims of abuse, not as criminals to be prosecuted. HB191 provides essential immunity for minors, shifting the legal response from punishment to protection and presumption of neglect. S4JR supports this measure because survivors deserve a system that recognizes their trauma and provides the resources for healing rather than the lifelong burden of a criminal record for acts they were forced to commit.

Please pass this bill and take these toxic products off the shelves and out of our youths hands.

On our way home from the Delegate hearing last week my son and I drove out of Richmond on Hull Street Road. There are noticeably a high density of vape shops in dis-advantaged areas of Richmond. But as you continue toward the suburbs you still see them every 5 miles. Let’s not kid ourselves……this toxic gas is available on every corner! The chair woman asked why a broader bill this year that doesn’t just include minors? Because grown adults like my son quickly became addicted with serious health issues in a short time! Like 12 other states, this product needs to be pulled from retail and only sold through permitted outlets! There are at least 1400 vape shops per Alexa but going to intestate myself. That number seems low!

Please vote YES on HB648 It is important for the committee to see visual examples of devices that are used to distribute nitrous oxide, as a common comment that has been brought up through this process is that the bill would be limiting distribution of small devices that could inadvertently distribute poisonouse gas such as cans of whipped cream. This is NOT the case at all. These devices are very large and are made for direct consumption of nitrous. Attached is an example of a couple of visuals. The first visual shows how retailers like vape shops encourage regular use with frequent buyer cards as well as warning labels from the manufacturer which directly state this should not be inhaled. The second visual shows a couple of examples of what these cansisters look like with a side by side comparison to a can of paint to put it into perspective.

I strongly support HB648 - prohibition in the State of Virginia of nitrous oxide for distribution to any person, business or organization that is not explicitly for commercial food or medical use. Severe penalties and routine checks should be mandated and implemented for those excluded from this bill. Vape shops and other similar distributors or dispensaries should be closely monitored to ensure compliance. They falsely sell under the pretense of being available for restaurant usage when in fact they market and sell to individuals for recreational usage. Too many people, especially our youth and underprivileged people, are dying or becoming gravely ill as a result. I, and my friends and family, urge our legislators who represent us in Fairfax County, to act immediately to enact legislation that will ban these dangerous products.

I nearly lost my son 6 months ago to nitrous. His use quickly escalated to an ER visit, long term neuropathy, mental health issues and suicide threats! Vape stores are distributing at will! This needs to stop. Who knows where the gas comes from and who produces the tanks. Please stop this chaos.

Insidious- a word I’ve heard used to describe Addiction, a disease that does not discriminate based on age, gender, race or economic status. A word that perfectly describes the subject of today’s bill. My name is Sarah Bolton, and I’m a substance abuse counselor in Martinsville, Virginia—an area devastated by the opioid epidemic. Now, a new threat has emerged. It doesn’t require a prescription, can be easily found at any of the local vape shops lining nearly every corner, and it’s completely legal. Kratom, and more specifically 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), is a highly addictive substance that acts on the opioid receptors in the brain. Marketed as “all natural,” consumers are often unaware that 7-OH is more potent than morphine or that stopping its use can cause severe withdrawal. Recently, a former patient returned to treatment after graduating from our program less than a year earlier with three years of sobriety from methamphetamines. He didn’t come back to treatment for relapsing on meth, though—he came back because he was addicted to kratom/7-OH. He said he tried to stop on his own but couldn’t. He recounted the night before, when he couldn’t stop violently shaking, couldn’t stop the sickness, and couldn’t stop the pain all over his body. Dope sick—that’s what we usually call it—and he couldn’t understand why. He first purchased 7-OH six months prior when a friend recommended it for pain. As a contractor, an “all natural” way to deal with pain didn’t seem like a bad idea. He told me that had he known what it truly was, he never would have tried it. He told me how that same friend was now addicted too and had pawned his wedding ring to get another pack of 7-OH. My patient has since made it his mission to warn others, going from vape shop to vape shop sharing his story and asking them to take it off the shelves. Meanwhile, more patients are walking through our doors addicted to kratom/7-OH. My patients need their voices heard, and they need legislation in place to prevent others from becoming addicted to this insidious substance.

After over a decade working in emergency services and frontline response, I now work with fellow survivors who have escaped their traffickers - only to find their freedom was only a state of mind, and a criminal record holds them captive. But this isn't just about one person's record - It’s about the 14 trillion dollar burden that trauma and trafficking leaves on our society while predators continue to profit. It's about the generational trauma that ripples through families and communities. This is about keeping our communities safe by breaking cycles, not perpetuating them. We have the power to start responding instead of reacting, and we owe it to each other to play smarter, think faster, and find justice… together. I'm not arguing that we don't each hold accountability for our actions. I'm arguing that in some cases, our freedom is stripped from us—and in those cases, accountability belongs to the one who stole it. The reality is that Human Trafficking is the second largest criminal empire, second only to the drug trade. Career criminals are smart, they have learned they can profit from trafficking drugs AND humans, and do it all while avoiding charges by requiring the trafficked individual to commit the crime of trafficking the drugs. Criminals receive all the profit and the victims alongside our communities, are taking the fall. This is only one example of the many crimes traffickers force their victims into commiting for the purpose of personal gain. When a parent can't pass a background check, they can't get stable employment. They can't secure safe housing. Their children grow up in poverty and instability—the same conditions that create vulnerability to trafficking in the first place. We know that 75% of children experience trauma transmission from parents with adverse childhood experiences. Criminal records tied to exploitation don't just punish survivors—they punish their children, and their children's children. Recent data shows 21 survivors presented over 100 different criminal code sections connected to their victimization. The list approach simply cannot capture the full scope of coerced criminality. HB1298 shifts to categorical eligibility with the intention to cover all misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies committed as a result of trafficking, while maintaining existing safeguards and accountability. Please support HB1298. Thank you.

House Bill 1298 is an important step toward ensuring justice for survivors of human trafficking in Virginia. Many human trafficking victims are forced to commit crimes as part of their exploitation and under current law, are unable to move forward in their healing because these criminal records. Their exploitation and trauma continue to follow them even after exiting trafficking, prohibiting them from truly moving forward into a place of healing and restoration. Criminal records create significant barriers to stable housing, employment, and educational opportunities—not only for survivors themselves, but for their children. These individual barriers compound into broader community impact through increased unemployment and generational cycles of reduced opportunity. Please advance HB 1298 to prevent re-traumatization, to ensure justice, and to promote healing for survivors of human trafficking in Virginia.

I write in strong support of House Bill 1298. As the Director of Virginia's only Human Trafficking Legal Clinic, our office has screened and represented trafficking survivors seeking vacatur relief since 2023. The current narrow scope of qualifying offenses leaves many victims without remedy, perpetuating the collateral consequences of crimes they were compelled to commit. 21 survivors we have screened collectively presented with over 100 criminal offense charges directly resulting from their exploitation—ranging from drug offenses to theft, trespass, and prostitution-related charges. The Rebuttable Presumption is Essential The proposed rebuttable presumption in § 19.2-327.18(F) addresses a critical gap in the current process. Despite presenting compelling evidence—including letters from Assistant United States Attorneys formally attesting to our clients' confirmed victim status—we have faced vigorous Commonwealth opposition to petitions in certain jurisdictions. Trafficking survivors should not face essentially varying evidentiary standards across different jurisdictions, or be required to relitigate their victim status when official documentation already confirms their victimization. The rebuttable presumption provides an appropriate safeguard: it recognizes the weight of official documentation while preserving the Commonwealth's ability to present contrary evidence in truly disputed cases. Without this provision, victims face re-traumatization through protracted litigation over facts already established by law enforcement and federal prosecutors. The rebuttable presumption balances justice for victims with prosecutorial discretion. I urge the subcommittee to advance this legislation.

Shared Hope International is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing, restoring, and bringing justice to survivors of child and youth sex trafficking. HB 1298, if passed, expands the issuance of a writ of vacatur for victims of human trafficking to all non-violent offenses in Virginia — allowing survivors to vacate certain convictions and associated burdens when their criminal conduct was a direct result of being trafficked. Virginia’s current vacatur statute represents an important acknowledgment that survivors of human trafficking should not bear lifelong criminal consequences for acts committed as a direct result of their exploitation. However, in practice, the law remains too narrow and fails to account for the full range of criminalized conduct survivors are compelled to engage in under the control of traffickers. By limiting relief primarily to certain low-level or enumerated offenses, current law leaves many survivors without meaningful access to justice and healing. Traffickers often force survivors to commit acts such as fraud, financial crimes, drug possession and/or distribution, and other offenses as a means of control, profit, or punishment. These offenses are not committed independently or voluntarily; rather, they are survival behaviors driven by violence, threats, psychological manipulation, and the constant risk of retaliation. Yet under current law, survivors convicted of these nonviolent felonies are often categorically excluded from vacatur relief, regardless of the clear causal connection between the trafficking and the offense. This narrow framework creates arbitrary distinctions that undermine the purpose of vacatur statutes. A survivor may obtain relief for an enumerated offense directly connected to their trafficking, while another survivor—coerced into a non-enumerated offense through the same exploitation—remains permanently barred from relief. This inconsistency fails to reflect the realities of trafficking and places undue weight on offense type rather than the survivor’s victimization and lack of meaningful agency at the time of the conduct. The consequences of these exclusions are severe. Survivors with convictions face persistent barriers to housing, employment, education, professional licensure, and family stability. These barriers directly impede long-term recovery and increase vulnerability to re-exploitation. Moreover, overly restrictive eligibility standards deter survivors from even seeking relief. Survivors often carry deep mistrust of systems that previously failed to protect them. When statutes are narrowly drawn or require survivors to fit within rigid offense categories, they reinforce the perception that relief is inaccessible, burdensome, or not intended for people with complex criminal histories—despite those histories being a direct product of trafficking. HB1298 addresses these shortcomings by expanding vacatur eligibility to include all nonviolent offenses when a survivor can demonstrate that the offense was a direct result of being trafficked. By allowing courts to consider the full context of exploitation and coercion, the bill ensures that relief is available to survivors whose experiences do not fit neatly into narrow statutory boxes. We strongly urge this committee to vote favorably upon HB 1298 to protect victims who are compelled to commit crimes and treat them as the victims they are. Thank you for your consideration.