Bill Commons

VA HB 868

died on adjournment

Political campaign advertisements; synthetic media, penalty.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower

Description

Elections; political campaign advertisements; synthetic media; penalty. Prohibits electioneering communications containing synthetic media, as those terms are defined in the bill, from being published or broadcast without containing the following conspicuously displayed statement: "This message contains synthetic media that has been altered from its original source or artificially generated and may present conduct or speech that did not occur." The bill creates a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 for a violation of such prohibition and a Class 1 misdemeanor for a willful violation. The bill permits any registered voter who receives an electioneering communication in violation of this requirement to institute an action for preventative relief to prohibit the publication or dissemination of such electioneering communication, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction.

Introduced
2026-01-13
Status date
—
Latest action
2026-02-06 — Continued to next session in Privileges and Elections (Voice Vote)
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Rae Cousinsprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-13

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103803D

    filing,introduction

  2. 2026-01-13

    Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections

    referral-committee

  3. 2026-01-25

    Assigned HPE sub: Campaigns and Candidates

    referral-committee

  4. 2026-01-28

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB868)

  5. 2026-02-03

    Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N)

  6. 2026-02-06

    Continued to next session in Privileges and Elections (Voice Vote)

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Subcommittee recommends reporting

    2026-02-03 · pass · 6-2

    Member-level votes (8)
    • Rozia A. Henson, Jr.: yes
    • Joshua G. Cole: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
    • JJ Singh: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
    • Phillip A. Scott: no
    • H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: no

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB868

Attribution

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

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