SB 404 — Search warrants; copy of search warrant and affidavit given to at least one adult occupant.

SESSION ENROLLED VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY ––-- 2022 SESSION CHAPTER E403 An Act to amend and reenact § 19.2-56 of the Code of Virginia, relating to search warrants;

R O [S 404] Approved LApril L11, 2022 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

E § 19.2-56.

warrant to show date and Dtime executed within 15 days.f affidavit to be part of warrantissuance; and served therewith;

warrantscopy notof A.affidavit to be part of warrant and served therewith;

Thewarrants judge,not magistrate,executed orwithin other15 officialdays. authorized to issue criminal warrants, shall issue a search warrant only if he finds from the facts or circumstances recited in the affidavit that there is probable cause for the issuance thereof.

EveryA. search warrant shall be directed (i) to the sheriff, sergeant, or any policeman of the county, city, or town in which the place to be searched is located;

The judge, magistrate, or other official authorized to issue criminal warrants, shall issue a search warrant only if he finds from the facts or circumstances recited in the affidavit that there is probable cauEvery search warrant shall be directed (i) to the sheriff, sergeant, or any policeman of the county, city, or town in which the place to be searched is located;

or (iii) jointlBjointly to any such sheriff, sergeant, policeman, or law-enforcement officer or agent and an agent, specia0special agent, or officer of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the United States Treasury, the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the United StatEseStates Department of Homeland Security, any inspector, law-enforcement official, or police personnel of the United States Postal Service, or the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The warrant shall (a) name the affiant, (b) recite the offense or the identity of the person to be arrested for whom a warrant or process for arrest has been issued in relation to which the search is to be made, (c) name or describe the place to be searched, (d) describe the property or person to be searched for, and (e) recite that the magistrate has found probable cause to believe that the property or person constitutes evidence of a crime (identified in the warrant) or tends to show that a person (named or described therein) has committed or beenis issuedcommitting isa locatedcrime ator that the placeperson to be searched.stedarrested for whom a warrant or process for arrest has Thebeen warrantissued shallis commandlocated thatat the place beto forthwith searched and that the objects or persons described in the warrant, if found there, be seized.searched.

The warrant shall command that the place be forthwith searched and that the objects or persons described in the warrant, if found there, be seized.

If the warrant is directed jointly to a sheriff, sergeant, policeman, or law-enforcement officer or agent of the Commonwealth and a federal agent or officer as otherwise provided in this section, the warrant may be executed jointly or by the policeman, law-enforcement officer, or agent into whose hands it is delivered.

Any search warrant for records or other information pertaining to a subscriber to, or customer of, an electronic communication service or remote computing service, whether a domestic corporation or foreign corporation, that is transacting or has transacted any business in the Commonwealth, to be executed upon such service provider may be executed within or outside the Commonwealth by hand, United States mail, commercial delivery service, facsimile, or other electronic means upon the service provider.

The return shall be made in the circuit court clerk's office for the jurisdiction wherein the warrant was (A) executed, if executed within the Commonwealth, and a copy of the return shall also be delivered to the clerk of the circuit court of the Saturdays,county Sundays, or anycity federalwhere orthe statewarrant legalwas holidayissued shallor not(B) beissued, usedif inexecuted computingoutside the three-dayCommonwealth. filing period.

ofSaturdays, 3Sundays, Electronic communication service or remoteany computingfederal service providers, whether a foreign or domesticstate corporation,legal holiday shall alsonot providebe theused contentsin ofcomputing electronic communications pursuant to a search warrant issued under this section and § 19.2-70.3 using the samethree-day processfiling describedperiod. in the preceding paragraph.

Electronic communication service or remote computing service providers, whether a foreign or domestic corporation, shall also provide the contents of electronic communications pursuant to a search of 3 warrant issued under this section and § 19.2-70.3 using the same process described in the preceding paragraph.

The making of the contract or terms of service agreement or the issuance of a certificate of authority shall be considered to be the agreement of the foreign corporation or entity that a search warrant or subpoena, which has been properly served on it, of 3 has the same legal force and effect as if served personally within the Commonwealth.

"Properly served" means delivery of a search warrant or subpoena by hand, by United States mail, by commercial delivery service, by facsimile or by any other manner to any officer of a corporation or its general manager in the Commonwealth, to any natural person designated by it as agent for the service annualof reportprocess, filedor pursuantif tosuch §corporation 13.1-775.gnatedhas designated a corporate agent, to any person nameRnamed in the latest Oof L3 Lannual Ereport Dfiled Spursuant Eto R§ 13.1-775.