Bill Commons

VA HB 159

Status unknown

Va. Freedom of Information Act; proceedings for enforcement, petition for mandamus or injunction.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower

Quick answers

Did VA HB 159 pass?

The current status of VA HB 159 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-02-25): Continued to next session in General Laws and Technology (13-Y 1-N)

What is VA HB 159 about?

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; proceedings for enforcement; petition for mandamus or injunction. Specifies that service of process or a summons for a hearing shall not be required when a petition for mandamus or injunction to enforce rights granted under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act has been filed.

Who sponsors VA HB 159?

Marcus B. Simon is the primary sponsor of VA HB 159.

Description

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; proceedings for enforcement; petition for mandamus or injunction. Specifies that service of process or a summons for a hearing shall not be required when a petition for mandamus or injunction to enforce rights granted under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act has been filed.

Introduced
2026-01-06
Latest action
2026-02-25 — Continued to next session in General Laws and Technology (13-Y 1-N)
Bill type
bill
Last updated

Sponsors

  • Marcus B. Simonprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-06

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102340D

    filing,introduction

  2. 2026-01-06

    Referred to Committee on General Laws

    referral-committee

  3. 2026-01-19

    Assigned HGL sub: Procurement/Open Government

    referral-committee

  4. 2026-01-20

    House subcommittee offered

  5. 2026-01-20

    Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (10-Y 0-N)

  6. 2026-01-22

    Reported from General Laws with amendment(s) (21-Y 0-N)

    committee-passage

  7. 2026-01-26

    Read first time

    reading-1

  8. 2026-01-26

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB159)

  9. 2026-01-27

    Read second time

    reading-2

  10. 2026-01-27

    committee amendment agreed to

    amendment-passage

  11. 2026-01-27

    Engrossed by House as amended

  12. 2026-01-28

    Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N 0-A)

    passage,reading-3

  13. 2026-01-28

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB159)

  14. 2026-01-29

    Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)

  15. 2026-01-29

    Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology

    referral-committee

  16. 2026-02-24

    Senate committee offered

  17. 2026-02-25

    Continued to next session in General Laws and Technology (13-Y 1-N)

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s)

    2026-01-20 · pass · 10-0

    Member-level votes (10)
    • Adele Y. McClure: yes
    • Betsy B. Carr: yes
    • Marcus B. Simon: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Joshua G. Cole: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • Lily V. Franklin: yes
    • Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
    • Bill Wiley: yes
  • Reported from General Laws with amendment(s)

    2026-01-22 · pass · 21-0

    Member-level votes (22)
    • Paul E. Krizek: yes
    • Holly M. Seibold: yes
    • Betsy B. Carr: yes
    • Luke E. Torian: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
    • Marcus B. Simon: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Joshua G. Cole: yes
    • Adele Y. McClure: yes
    • Phil M. Hernandez: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
    • Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
    • Lily V. Franklin: yes
    • Barry D. Knight: not voting
    • James W. Morefield: yes
    • Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: yes
    • Terry L. Austin: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
    • Bill Wiley: yes
    • Ellen H. McLaughlin: yes
  • H VOTE:

    2026-01-28 · pass · 97-0

    Member-level votes (100)
    • Jessica L. Anderson: yes
    • Bonita G. Anthony: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: yes
    • Terry L. Austin: yes
    • Jason S. Ballard: yes
    • Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
    • Betsy B. Carr: yes
    • Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: yes
    • Nadarius E. Clark: yes
    • Laura Jane Cohen: yes
    • Joshua G. Cole: yes
    • Nicole Cole: yes
    • Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
    • Mitchell Cornett: yes
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Will Davis: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Lindsey Dougherty: yes
    • Mark C. Downey: yes
    • Michael B. Feggans: yes
    • Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: yes
    • Lily V. Franklin: yes
    • Margaret A. Franklin: yes
    • Debra D. Gardner: yes
    • Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: yes
    • Jackie H. Glass: yes
    • Timothy P. Griffin: yes
    • Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
    • Karen Hamilton: yes
    • C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr.: yes
    • Dan I. Helmer: yes
    • Rozia A. Henson, Jr.: yes
    • Phil M. Hernandez: yes
    • Charniele L. Herring: yes
    • M. Keith Hodges: yes
    • Patrick A. Hope: yes
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: yes
    • Karen Keys-Gamarra: yes
    • Terry G. Kilgore: yes
    • Barry D. Knight: not voting
    • Paul E. Krizek: yes
    • Amy J. Laufer: yes
    • James A. "Jay" Leftwich: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
    • Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
    • Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
    • Marty Martinez: yes
    • John Chilton McAuliff: yes
    • Adele Y. McClure: yes
    • Garrett McGuire: yes
    • Ellen H. McLaughlin: yes
    • Joseph P. McNamara: yes
    • Delores L. McQuinn: yes
    • Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
    • James W. Morefield: yes
    • May Nivar: yes
    • Delores Oates: yes
    • Israel D. O'Quinn: yes
    • Justin Pence: yes
    • Eric Phillips: yes
    • Kimberly Pope Adams: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
    • Sam Rasoul: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • David A. Reid: yes
    • Chris S. Runion: yes
    • Charlie Schmidt: yes
    • Don Scott: yes
    • Phillip A. Scott: yes
    • Holly M. Seibold: yes
    • Briana D. Sewell: yes
    • Irene Shin: yes
    • Marcus B. Simon: yes
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • JJ Singh: yes
    • Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.: yes
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: yes
    • Joshua E. Thomas: yes
    • Virgil Thornton: yes
    • Luke E. Torian: yes
    • Kathy K.L. Tran: yes
    • H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: yes
    • Wendell S. Walker: yes
    • Jeion A. Ward: yes
    • R. Lee Ware: yes
    • Vivian E. Watts: yes
    • Michael J. Webert: yes
    • Madison Whittle: yes
    • Bill Wiley: yes
    • Rodney T. Willett: yes
    • Wren M. Williams: not voting
    • Tony O. Wilt: yes
    • Thomas C. Wright, Jr.: not voting
    • Scott A. Wyatt: yes
    • Eric R. Zehr: yes
  • Continued to next session in General Laws and Technology

    2026-02-25 · pass · 13-1

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Jeremy S. McPike: yes
    • Mamie E. Locke: yes
    • Bryce E. Reeves: yes
    • Todd E. Pillion: yes
    • Aaron R. Rouse: yes
    • Christopher T. Head: yes
    • Emily M. Jordan: not voting
    • Schuyler T. VanValkenburg: yes
    • Danica A. Roem: no
    • Jennifer D. Carroll Foy: yes
    • Timmy French: yes
    • Christie New Craig: yes
    • Angelia Williams Graves: yes
    • David W. Marsden: yes
    • Stella G. Pekarsky: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=VA&identifier=HB 159. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

Known limitations

  • Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
  • Committee referrals are not yet captured.

See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.