House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert issued the following statement:

“Once again House Democrats have demonstrated that their top priority in this special session is making life easier for criminals. If murderers, rapists, and child molesters are to be released from prison, victims of their crimes and members of the public should at least know when it’s happening, and which members of the Parole Board voted for that release.

“The two Senate Bills defeated by Democrats today would have added much-needed transparency to the Parole Board. Yet House Democrats voted to kill this bipartisan legislation that would have ensured that those who have suffered at the hands of violent criminals would not remain in the dark when the Parole Board releases them early. At this very moment, we believe there are additional damning reports about the Parole Board from the Inspector General which demonstrate the urgent need for this legislation.

“We know from the previous Inspector General’s investigation that something is rotten at the Virginia Parole Board, and House Democrats are now complicit in that cover up. Minutes weren’t kept at meetings, notification deadlines were missed, and victims and their families were often ignored. Today’s votes make it clear that Virginia House Democrats would rather enable these reckless actions than fix these failures and all of it in an effort to unfathomably run cover for violent and hardened criminals.”