HOUSE BILL NO. 969

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Public Safety

on ________________)

(Patron Prior to Substitute—Delegate Price)

A BILL to direct the Department of Criminal Justice Services to convene a work group to develop policy and legislative recommendations to address firearm violence.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. That the Department of Criminal Justice Services (the Department) shall convene a work group to develop policy and legislative recommendations to address firearm violence that shall consist of relevant stakeholders, including (i) the Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services; (ii) the Secretary of Health and Human Resources; (iii) at least one current or former member of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates; (iv) at least one current or former member of the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; and (v) firearm safety advocates. The work group shall consider and develop practical policy and legislative recommendations for the following goals: (a) working to enhance programs and strategies designed to address firearm violence, including programs that focus on the prevention of suicide or domestic violence in the populations served by such departments; (b) implementing a plan to facilitate coordination between state agencies, localities, and community-based organizations to develop comprehensive practices for addressing firearm violence and implementing firearm violence intervention and prevention programs; (c) identifying best practices for establishing firearm violence intervention and prevention programs, including street outreach, hospital-based violence intervention, community-based violence intervention, and group violence intervention programs; (d) implementing a plan for providing technical assistance to localities and community-based organizations to support the establishment of firearm violence intervention and prevention programs, including technical assistance on capacity building, obtaining grant funding, and collecting data; (e) implementing a plan for producing reports and providing analysis and interpretation of statistical information regarding firearm violence, including information on firearm trafficking, crimes involving firearms, mass shootings, suicides, and fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries; and (f) implementing a policy for establishing training standards and publish and periodically updating model policies for law-enforcement personnel containing best practices for (1) the service and execution of substantial risk orders and protective orders, (2) the processes for obtaining a firearm from an individual prohibited from possessing a firearm, and (3) addressing the different types of firearm violence, including unintentional injuries, mass shootings, domestic violence, suicides, homicides, and community violence. The work group shall report its findings and specific legislative and policy recommendations to the General Assembly by October 1, 2026.