Bill Text: VA HB161 | 2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Individuals experiencing or reporting overdoses while incarcerated; disciplinary procedures.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2024-04-17 - House sustained Governor's veto [HB161 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB161-Enrolled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §18.2-251.03 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§18.2-251.03. Arrest, prosecution, and disciplinary or administrative procedures and penalties when experiencing or reporting overdoses.
A. For purposes of this section, "overdose" means a life-threatening condition resulting from the consumption or use of a controlled substance, alcohol, or any combination of such substances.
B. No Except as otherwise provided in subsection C,
no individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for the unlawful
purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol pursuant to §4.1-305, unlawful
purchase, possession, or consumption of marijuana pursuant to §4.1-1105.1,
possession of a controlled substance pursuant to §18.2-250, intoxication in
public pursuant to §18.2-388, or possession of controlled paraphernalia
pursuant to §54.1-3466 if:
1. Such individual (i) in good faith, seeks or obtains emergency medical attention (a) for himself, if he is experiencing an overdose, or (b) for another individual, if such other individual is experiencing an overdose; (ii) is experiencing an overdose and another individual, in good faith, seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for such individual, by contemporaneously reporting such overdose to a firefighter, as defined in § 65.2-102, emergency medical services personnel, as defined in §32.1-111.1, a law-enforcement officer, as defined in §9.1-101, or an emergency 911 system; or (iii) in good faith, renders emergency care or assistance, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or the administration of naloxone or other opioid antagonist for overdose reversal, to an individual experiencing an overdose while another individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention in accordance with this subdivision;
2. Such individual remains at the scene of the overdose or at any alternative location to which he or the person requiring emergency medical attention has been transported until a law-enforcement officer responds to the report of an overdose. If no law-enforcement officer is present at the scene of the overdose or at the alternative location, then such individual shall cooperate with law enforcement as otherwise set forth herein;
3. Such individual identifies himself to the law-enforcement officer who responds to the report of the overdose; and
4. The evidence for the prosecution of an offense enumerated in this subsection was obtained as a result of the individual seeking or obtaining emergency medical attention or rendering emergency care or assistance.
C. No individual incarcerated in a local, regional, or state correctional facility shall be subject to arrest, prosecution, or disciplinary or administrative procedures or penalties for the unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol pursuant to §4.1-305, unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of marijuana pursuant to §4.1-1105.1, possession of a controlled substance pursuant to §18.2-250, procurement, sale, secretion, or possession of any chemical compound that he has not lawfully received pursuant to subdivision 5 of §53.1-203, procurement, sale, secretion, or possession of a controlled substance classified in Schedule III of the Drug Control Act (§54.1-3400 et seq.) or marijuana pursuant to subdivision 6 of § 53.1-203, intoxication in public pursuant to §18.2-388, or possession of controlled paraphernalia pursuant to §54.1-3466 if such individual (i) in good faith, seeks or obtains emergency medical attention (a) for himself, if he is experiencing an overdose, or (b) for another individual, if such other individual is experiencing an overdose; (ii) is experiencing an overdose and another individual, in good faith, seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for such individual, by contemporaneously reporting such overdose to an employee or volunteer of a local, regional, or state correctional facility; or (iii) in good faith, renders emergency care or assistance, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), to an individual experiencing an overdose while another individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention in accordance with this subsection.
D. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for himself or another individual, to a person experiencing an overdose when another individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for him, or to a person who renders emergency care or assistance to an individual experiencing an overdose while another person seeks or obtains emergency medical attention during the execution of a search warrant or during the conduct of a lawful search or a lawful arrest.
D. E. This section does not establish protection
from arrest or, prosecution, or disciplinary or administrative
procedures or penalties for any individual or offense other than those
listed in subsection B or C.
E. F. No law-enforcement officer,
correctional officer, deputy sheriff, or jail officer acting in good faith
shall be found liable for false arrest if it is later determined that the
person arrested was immune from prosecution or disciplinary or
administrative procedures or penalties under this section.
