At $200, Virginia is tied with New Jersey for having the lowest felony larceny threshold in the country. 

But on Monday, Gov. Ralph Northam ceremonially signed legislation that gives it a significant boost. 

Del. Les Adams (R-Pittsylvania) helped introduce HB1550, which raises the threshold to $500. 

“I think it’s a bill whose time had come,” said Adams.

Adams, who is also a lawyer, said he’s seen firsthand how a felony conviction can impact a person’s future. 

“A felony designation in Virginia carries with it significant consequences that follow a person, in most cases, for the rest of their life,” he said. “I would say that almost every judge and lawyer who deals with this knows that it was time for a change.” 

This is the first time Virginia’s felony larceny threshold will go up in 38 years. 

It’s something Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran has sought for at least 20 years. 

“As a legislator in 1998, I patroned legislation to raise the larceny threshold to $500,” said Moran. “This has been a long time coming.” 

Moran recounted one of the last cases he represented in court before moving into his current role. 

He said it was a 19-year-old Howard University student who stole a pair of UGG boots from Nordstrom. 

“It was just over $200,” said Moran. “She would have lost her college scholarship, she would have lost her opportunity to attend and graduate from an excellent university and whatever her job prospects would have been would have severely diminished because of that felony conviction.”

Moran said, while in this case they were able to drop the charge to a misdemeanor, not everyone is so lucky. 

“Their life is forever impacted. [You] can’t get a felony conviction off your record and that is something that hounds you for your life,” he said. 

The change was part of what Northam called a “historic bipartisan compromise” announced in February.

“I think we would all agree that we want to be tough on crime but we also do not want to be in the business of ruining people’s lives,” said Northam. “We certainly want to give people a second chance.” 

The other half of the deal includes two pieces of legislation. One, HB484, helps monitor restitution payment and the other, HB483, makes sure that money is delivered to victims.

The bills become law July 1.