Opinion ID: 1058473
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: applicability of the virginia administrative process act

Text: In a related assignment of error, Porter asserts that the circuit court erred by denying his motion to suspend all executions until regulations providing the necessary procedures to carry out Virginia's death penalty statutes are properly promulgated. Porter maintains that the particular procedures used for execution in Virginia are unlawful because the Department of Corrections has failed to comply with certain provisions of the Virginia Administrative Process Act (APA), Code §§ 2.2-4000 et seq. Porter's assertions are without merit. Agency action by the Virginia Department of Corrections concerning inmates of prisons does not fall within the scope of the APA. Though the APA exempts certain Virginia agencies from its mandates specifically by name, it also creates exemptions for agency action by subject matter as well. Accordingly, the Act exempts actions of agencies relating to [i]nmates of prisons or other such facilities or parolees therefrom. Code § 2.2-4002(B)(9). In this context, the Virginia Department of Corrections is an agency whose sole purpose is related to inmates of prisons. It is thus exempt from the strictures of the APA. We therefore hold that the circuit court did not err in rejecting Porter's motion to invalidate the execution procedures under the APA.