VA HB 944
Status unknownWorkplace violence; policy required for certain employers, civil penalty, delayed effective date.
Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower
Quick answers
Did VA HB 944 pass?
The current status of VA HB 944 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-03-09): Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)
What is VA HB 944 about?
Workplace violence policy required for certain employers; civil penalty. Requires any employer of 100 or more employees to develop, implement, and maintain a workplace violence policy no later than January 1, 2027. The bill includes requirements for such a policy, such as procedures and methods for employee reporting of incidents and post-incident investigations. Employers subject to the bill are required to maintain documentation of workplace violence incidents for not less than five years. An employer that violates the provisions of the bill shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation. The bill prohibits retaliation from an employer on the basis of reporting a workplace violence incident and provides that any employee who makes a report of workplace violence shall be immune from civil liability. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
Who sponsors VA HB 944?
Nadarius E. Clark is the primary sponsor of VA HB 944, joined by 6 cosponsors.
Description
Workplace violence policy required for certain employers; civil penalty. Requires any employer of 100 or more employees to develop, implement, and maintain a workplace violence policy no later than January 1, 2027. The bill includes requirements for such a policy, such as procedures and methods for employee reporting of incidents and post-incident investigations. Employers subject to the bill are required to maintain documentation of workplace violence incidents for not less than five years. An employer that violates the provisions of the bill shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation. The bill prohibits retaliation from an employer on the basis of reporting a workplace violence incident and provides that any employee who makes a report of workplace violence shall be immune from civil liability. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
- Introduced
- 2026-01-13
- Latest action
- 2026-03-09 — Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Sponsors
- Nadarius E. Clarkprimary
- Irene Shincosponsor
- Charlie Schmidtcosponsor
- Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.cosponsor
- Nicole Colecosponsor
- Bonita G. Anthonycosponsor
- Rozia A. Henson, Jr.cosponsor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
2026-01-13
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103286D
filing,introduction
2026-01-13
Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce
referral-committee
2026-01-22
Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #2
referral-committee
2026-02-09
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB944)
2026-02-12
House subcommittee offered
2026-02-12
Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (4-Y 2-N)
substitution
2026-02-12
Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (13-Y 7-N)
committee-passage
2026-02-13
Committee substitute printed 26107778D-H1
substitution
2026-02-15
Read first time
reading-1
2026-02-16
Read second time
reading-2
2026-02-16
committee substitute agreed to
substitution
2026-02-16
Engrossed by House - committee substitute
substitution
2026-02-17
Read third time and passed House (62-Y 35-N 0-A)
passage,reading-3
2026-02-17
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB944)
2026-02-18
Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
2026-02-18
Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
referral-committee
2026-03-09
Senate committee offered
2026-03-09
Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 4-N)
committee-passage
2026-03-09
Committee substitute printed 26109448D-S1
substitution
2026-03-09
Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)
Versions
Documents
Votes
Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute
2026-02-12 · pass · 13-7
Member-level votes (22)
- Jeion A. Ward: yes
- Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.: yes
- Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: not voting
- Dan I. Helmer: yes
- Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
- Irene Shin: yes
- Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
- Michael B. Feggans: yes
- Nadarius E. Clark: not voting
- Rae Cousins: yes
- Bonita G. Anthony: yes
- Laura Jane Cohen: yes
- JJ Singh: yes
- May Nivar: yes
- Terry G. Kilgore: no
- Israel D. O'Quinn: no
- Michael J. Webert: no
- Tony O. Wilt: no
- Chris S. Runion: no
- Jason S. Ballard: no
- Wren M. Williams: no
Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute
2026-02-12 · pass · 4-2
Member-level votes (7)
- Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
- Dan I. Helmer: not voting
- Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
- Michael B. Feggans: yes
- Chris S. Runion: no
- Jason S. Ballard: no
H VOTE:
2026-02-17 · pass · 61-35
Member-level votes (99)
- Jessica L. Anderson: yes
- Bonita G. Anthony: yes
- Alex Q. Askew: yes
- Terry L. Austin: no
- Jason S. Ballard: no
- Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: no
- Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
- Katrina Callsen: yes
- Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
- Betsy B. Carr: yes
- Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
- Mike A. Cherry: no
- Nadarius E. Clark: not voting
- Laura Jane Cohen: yes
- Joshua G. Cole: yes
- Nicole Cole: yes
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
- Mitchell Cornett: no
- Rae Cousins: yes
- Will Davis: no
- Karrie K. Delaney: yes
- Lindsey Dougherty: yes
- Mark C. Downey: yes
- Michael B. Feggans: yes
- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: no
- Lily V. Franklin: yes
- Margaret A. Franklin: yes
- Debra D. Gardner: yes
- Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: no
- Jackie H. Glass: yes
- Timothy P. Griffin: no
- Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
- Karen Hamilton: no
- 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: no
- Patrick A. Hope: yes
- Hillary Pugh Kent: no
- Karen Keys-Gamarra: yes
- Terry G. Kilgore: no
- Barry D. Knight: not voting
- Paul E. Krizek: yes
- Amy J. Laufer: yes
- James A. "Jay" Leftwich: no
- Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
- Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
- Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
- Marty Martinez: yes
- John Chilton McAuliff: not voting
- Adele Y. McClure: yes
- Garrett McGuire: yes
- Ellen H. McLaughlin: no
- Joseph P. McNamara: no
- Delores L. McQuinn: yes
- Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
- James W. Morefield: no
- May Nivar: yes
- Delores Oates: no
- Israel D. O'Quinn: no
- Justin Pence: no
- Eric Phillips: no
- Kimberly Pope Adams: yes
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
- Sam Rasoul: yes
- Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
- David A. Reid: yes
- Chris S. Runion: no
- Charlie Schmidt: yes
- Don Scott: yes
- Phillip A. Scott: no
- 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: no
- Joshua E. Thomas: yes
- Virgil Thornton: yes
- Luke E. Torian: yes
- Kathy K.L. Tran: yes
- H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: no
- Wendell S. Walker: no
- Jeion A. Ward: yes
- R. Lee Ware: no
- Vivian E. Watts: yes
- Michael J. Webert: no
- Madison Whittle: no
- Bill Wiley: no
- Rodney T. Willett: yes
- Wren M. Williams: no
- Tony O. Wilt: no
- Thomas C. Wright, Jr.: no
- Scott A. Wyatt: no
- Eric R. Zehr: no
Continued to next session in Finance and Appropriations
2026-03-09 · pass · 14-0
Member-level votes (15)
- L. Louise Lucas: yes
- R. Creigh Deeds: yes
- Mamie E. Locke: yes
- Ryan T. McDougle: yes
- Mark D. Obenshain: yes
- Richard H. Stuart: not voting
- Bryce E. Reeves: yes
- Barbara A. Favola: yes
- Scott A. Surovell: yes
- Jeremy S. McPike: yes
- Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
- Todd E. Pillion: yes
- Aaron R. Rouse: yes
- Lamont Bagby: yes
- Lashrecse D. Aird: yes
Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute
2026-03-09 · pass · 10-4
Member-level votes (15)
- R. Creigh Deeds: yes
- Mark D. Obenshain: no
- L. Louise Lucas: yes
- David W. Marsden: yes
- Scott A. Surovell: yes
- William M. Stanley, Jr.: yes
- Ryan T. McDougle: no
- Mamie E. Locke: yes
- Bill DeSteph: no
- Jeremy S. McPike: yes
- Mark J. Peake: no
- Aaron R. Rouse: yes
- Lamont Bagby: yes
- Richard H. Stuart: not voting
- Jennifer B. Boysko: 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 944. 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.