Virginia
Virginia has no independent forensic science commission; the state lab is overseen by a policy board and a scientific advisory committee. Since 2023 the State changed DNA notice and data bank rules, and on July 1, 2026 the 2022 facial recognition law expired, which returned local and campus police to a ban on the technology unless a statute expressly authorizes it.
At a glance
- Oversight body
- No independent commission. The Department of Forensic Science, the state lab, works under a 15-member Forensic Science Board, which adopts regulations and monitors the Department, and a 13-member Scientific Advisory Committee, which reviews lab operations, methods, and analysts’ work (Va. Code 9.1-1100 et seq.). On request, the Committee must review Department scientists’ work and recommend a review process for allegations of misidentification or other testing error (9.1-1113(C)).
- Lab accreditation
- No general statutory accreditation mandate for crime labs was found in Title 9.1, chapter 11.
- Analyst licensing
- None. The Scientific Advisory Committee recommends qualification standards for Department scientists (9.1-1113(B)(4)). HB 575 (2024), on training and certification for forensic science duties, died in committee.
- Admissibility standard
- Rule 2:702, unchanged since 2012, which admits expert testimony that will assist the trier of fact and, in criminal cases, also requires that the subject be beyond ordinary knowledge; the rule’s text contains no reliability test, which comes from case law (Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia). By statute, DNA testing is a reliable scientific technique, with a 21-day notice requirement (Va. Code 19.2-270.5). The leading case, Spencer v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 275 (1989), could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
- Post-conviction forensic relief
- No changed-science statute. Va. Code 19.2-327.1 allows motions for new scientific analysis of newly discovered or untested human biological evidence, whose results can support a writ of actual innocence based on biological evidence (19.2-327.2 et seq.); writs based on nonbiological evidence go to the Court of Appeals, including a testing procedure not available at trial (19.2-327.11(A)(vi)(b)).
- DNA database scope
- A record sealing order under 19.2-392.7, 19.2-392.12, or 19.2-392.12:1 is not grounds to expunge a DNA profile from the data bank (Va. Code 19.2-310.7(B)).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Facial recognition law expires; local and campus police ban returns
The 2022 act that authorized and limited police use of facial recognition expired on July 1, 2026, and no extension was enacted. Va. Code 15.2-1723.2 and 23.1-815.1 reverted to their 2021 text: no local law enforcement agency or campus police department may buy or deploy facial recognition technology unless a statute expressly authorizes it, and a statute that does not refer to the technology does not count. Va. Code 52-4.5, which set authorized uses and a model policy for the State Police, has no version in force after July 1, 2026.
For practitioners: A facial recognition lead from a local or campus police agency after June 30, 2026 needs a statute that expressly authorizes it.
Va. Code 15.2-1723.2 Va. Code 23.1-815.1 Va. Code 52-4.5 2022 Acts ch. 737
New sealing path does not expunge DNA profiles
Va. Code 19.2-310.7(B) now says a sealing order under the new 19.2-392.12:1, like orders under 19.2-392.7 and 19.2-392.12, is not grounds to expunge a person’s DNA profile from the data bank. This is one small part of a large record sealing act.
For practitioners: A sealed record does not take the person’s profile out of the data bank.
Board and committee members serve until replaced
Governor-appointed members of the Forensic Science Board and the Scientific Advisory Committee now serve past the end of their terms until a successor is appointed (Va. Code 9.1-1109(C), 9.1-1111). The act also corrects the name of the Commonwealth’s Attorneys association in 9.1-1109 and drops the requirement that the Committee meet in Richmond (9.1-1112).
For practitioners: No change to lab practice; the oversight bodies keep their members while appointments are pending.
DNA notice, data bank reports, and identity sharing changed
The 19.2-270.5 DNA notice no longer must include the profiles; parties may get the underlying profiles under 19.2-187.2, with a continuance. The Department’s data bank report no longer includes the profile and identifying information (19.2-310.4), and the Department must give agencies taking part in the national DNA index the identifying information for confirmed candidate matches (19.2-310.5). Defense-requested analyses require that the Department have a method to perform them (9.1-1104). A signature on an evidence submission receipt, including an electronic one, is prima facie evidence that the lab properly received the material (19.2-187.01). The Committee’s lab director seat no longer must be filled from in state (9.1-1111).
For practitioners: Request the underlying DNA profiles under 19.2-187.2; the notice alone no longer includes them.
Police must report surveillance technology each year
State and local law enforcement agencies and sheriff’s departments must report to the Department of Criminal Justice Services by November 1 each year the surveillance technologies they used, accessed, or procured in the prior fiscal year (Va. Code 9.1-116.10). The listed examples include facial, voice, iris, and gait recognition software and mobile DNA capture technology.
For practitioners: The annual reports can show whether an agency had biometric or mobile DNA tools.
Trace evidence kits for strangulation victims
Adds trace evidence collection kits for strangulation victims, including anonymous kits for victims who do not report to police, to the evidence recovery kit provisions in Va. Code 19.2-11.5 to 19.2-11.9 and 19.2-11.12.
For practitioners: Strangulation kits follow the same storage and anonymous-kit rules as physical evidence recovery kits.
Pending bills
These companion bills were continued to the 2027 session and had not passed as of October 19, 2026.
- HB 1257 / HB 1261 (2026): would bar local and campus police agencies from buying forensic equipment, breath-test devices, or presumptive tests not approved by the Department of Forensic Science or the Forensic Science Board (new Va. Code 15.2-1723.3 and 23.1-815.2). The new sections’ headings mention accreditation, but the text does not require it. The bill’s definition of forensic laboratory analysis excludes latent print exams, breath tests, digital evidence, presumptive tests, autopsies, and exams on federally approved equipment such as national ballistics network sites. It would also amend 9.1-1110 and direct the Department of Criminal Justice Services to set frameworks for police use of generative AI and audiovisual surveillance. HB 1257
Checked and unchanged
- Rule 2:702 has not been amended since it took effect July 1, 2012. Va. Code 9.1-1113(C) is unchanged since 2005.
- The actual innocence statutes 19.2-327.10 and 19.2-327.13 were last amended in 2020 and 19.2-327.1 in 2021. SB 958 (2023 Acts ch. 719) changed only procedure for those writs: notice, dismissal of successive petitions, and victim notice. DNA sample collection statutes 19.2-310.2 to 19.2-310.3:1 were last amended in 2022.
- The 2026 budget (2026 Special Session I, ch. 1) added Va. Code 9.1-1101(B)(4), which largely restates the THC testing-method duty that already exists in 18.2-247, adding a reference to 54.1-3446; it is not counted. Related changes to 18.2-247 and 19.2-188.1 take effect July 1, 2027.
- No Virginia statute or bill on forensic genetic genealogy was found. Forensic Science Board regulation (6VAC40) changes from 2023 to 2026 could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
- Not counted as a forensic evidence change: HB 1642 (2025 Acts ch. 637), which requires a human decision-maker when AI tools make recommendations in criminal justice decisions (Va. Code 19.2-11.14).
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Virginia forensic science oversight: Forensic Science Tracker,” uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/virginia (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.