Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Tides Foundation Interim Grant Report
March 31, 2016
$40,000 Death Penalty Mobilization Fund Grant
TFR 15-02820
Impact & Assessment
In October 2015 VADP convened five regional meetings in northem Virginia, Richmond, Norfolk,
Charlottesville, and Roanoke. We provided education on serious mental illness (SMI) exclusion
bill and encouraged contacts with legislators in their respective areas to support the concept.
VADP and its partners - NAMI Virginia, Virginia Catholic Conference, and ACLU of Virginia -
made a good start to its campaign to pass SMI exclusion legislation. We were able to get Richard
Bonnie, Professor of Medicine and Law at the University of Virginia Law School, to write the
SMI legislation with the assistance of capital defense attomeys Doug Ramseur and Jon Sheldon.
NAMI Virginia was able to recruit Delegate Jay Leftwich - a conservative Republican from
Chesapeake - to be the House patron of the SMI bill. He chose one of the versions of draft SMI
legislation written by Professor Bonnie and introduced the measure as HB 794.
For much of the legislative session Del. Leftwich personally lobbied members of the House
Criminal Law Subcommittee. He identified Republican subcommittee members on the fence
about the bill and asked the coalition to organize grassroots support in their legislative districts.
Ultimately, we fell one vote short of passing HB 794 out of the Criminal Law Subcommittee. We
had the support of the three Democrats (Vivian Watts, Charniele Herring, and Monty Mason) as
well as Republican Delegates David Albo (Fairfax) and Chris Collins (Winchester).
We were fortunate to get a hearing before the full House Courts of Justice Committee despite the
negative recommendation from the Criminal Law Subcommittee. Our coalition got only 24 hours’
notice of the hearing, and was unable to get any experts to appear and testify in favor of the SMI
bill. However, Del. Leftwich did an excellent job answering questions and objections.
Ultimately, HB 815 was carried over to the 2017 legislative session on a voice vote.
The most significant defeat for VADP and our coalition during the 2016 legislative session was
enactment of a bill to make the electrocution the default method of execution if lethal injection
drugs are not available. This measure sailed through the House of Delegates on a 62-33 vote.
Three Republicans - Peter Farrell (Richmond), Greg Habeeb (Roanoke), and Bob Marshall
(Manassas) opposed the bill. Several other Republicans expressed reluctance about the electric
chair, but ultimately voted in support.
The bill was referred to the Courts of Justice Committee in the Senate. In 2014 a similar measure
was referred to the Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee where it was defeated.
VADP recruited David Bruck, Professor at Washington and Lee University Law School, to testify
against HB 815 in the Senate. Despite his testimony that the bill would tie up Virginia’s death
penalty in 8th Amendment court challenges for years, the committee passed the measure on a 9-5
party line vote. One Republican, Sen. Bill Stanley (Moneta), purposely did not vote on the bill.
HB 815 passed the Senate on a 22-17 vote. All Republicans (except Sen. Stanley) supported the bill
as well as two Democrats - Dick Saslaw (Springfield) and Jeremy McPike (Woodbridge).
1
Challenges
Governor McAuliffe’s administration quietly supported the electric chair bill (HB 815) despite near
unanimous opposition by Democrats. Director of Public Safety Brian Moran lobbied for the bill
with key Republican Senators. He convincef Courts of Justice Committee chairman Sen. Mark
Obenshain (Harrisonburg) to support the bill despite his opposition to similar legislation in 2014.
The electric chair bill is awaiting action by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. We anticipate that he will sign it
into law before the April 10th constitutional deadline.
Evaluation & Lessons Learned
The House Courts of Justice Committee hearing on the SMI bill was instructive. Three pro-death
penalty Republican Delegates - Committee Chairman Rob Bell (Charlottesville), Todd Gilbert
(Woodstock), and Rick Morris (Carrollton) - strongly opposed the bill. They posed questions that
will need to be thoroughly addressed in the 2017 legislative session. The objections can be
summarized as (1) there is no need, the insanity defense is sufficient; (2) every capital defendant
will use this to avoid the death penalty; and (3) this is a step toward abolition of the death penalty.
In addition, we were surprised that the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's A ttomeys formally
opposed the legislation. We will need to get prosecutors who are opposed to the death penalty to
take no position on the SMI bill in next year’s legislative session.
On April 7th there will be a meeting of key abolition leaders and organizational partners to review
the results of the 2016 General Assembly session and begin planning for the 2017 legislative
session based on our experience with the serious mental illness execution ban bill.
The departure of Frank Knaack as the Director of Public Policy for ACLU of Virginia in July 2015
was a big sethack for our coalition. Frank had by far the most experience with campaign strategy
and had pledged to do significant organizing work in support of the SMI bill.
His successor, Bill Farrar, has great PR expertise but little policy experience. As a result, the
ACLU of Virginia provided virtually none of the anticipated groundwork prior to the 2016
legislative session. Rob Poggenklass, Legal Fellow for the ACLU of Virginia, did strong lobbying
work at the General Assembly. Unfortunately, Rob will also be leaving Virginia later this year.
The future role of the ACLU in the coalition is uncertain given this staff turnover.
Funding & Finances
VADP ended its 2015 year with a positive net income of $14,748.10 and $52,574.67 in assets. For
the first two months of 2016 VADP expenses exceeded income by $5,913.11 due largely to its
decision to hire a lobbyist for the legislative session, a new expense for VADP.
The organization plans to continue its traditional postal mail appeals in May and November where
the bulk of the organization’s grassroots financial support is received. Recently VADP sent a
four-page color 2015 annual report to 148 major donors that generated $3,500 in contributions in
the first week.
VADP held its first “friend-raising” event in Herndon in January 2016. Two others are scheduled to
take place on April 7 in Richmond and April 26 in Norfolk. Plans are being made for additional
events in Charlottesville and Roanoke, but dates for these have not been set.
VADP nearly doubled contributions from the faith community in 2015 (from $6,565.00 in 2014 to
$12,551.52). We are expecting to substantially increase this source of income in 2016.
2
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Tides Foundation Interim Grant Report
March 31, 2016
$40,000 Death Penalty Mobilization Fund Grant
TFR 15-02820
Interim Financial Report for the Grant Y ear
October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016
Tides Grant Expenditures
Budget (as of 2-29-2016)
Personnel Expenses:
Executive Director $ 35,000.00 $ 24,168.00
Personnel Subtotal $ 35,000.00 $ 24,168.00
Direct Expenses:
Travel 2,500.00 984.44
Postage & Shipping
Printing & Copying
Materials & Books
Database & Website 2,500.00 1,045.00
Direct Expenses Subtotal 5,000.00 2,029.44
Indirect Expenses:
Telephone & Fax
Development/Fundraising
Professional Fees
Indirect Expenses Subtotal
Total Expenses $ 40,000.00 $ 26,197.44
