Legislation: batch E — CA TN VA VT WA WI WV WY

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-874.md

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+---
+type: "Bill"
+title: "Handheld personal communications devices; holding devices while driving a motor vehicle, penalty."
+description: "Holding handheld personal communications devices whiledriving a motor vehicle. Prohibits any person from holding a handheldpersonal communications device while driving a motor vehicle. Current lawprohibits (i) the reading of any email or text message and manually enteringletters or text in such a device as a means of communicating and (ii) holding apersonal communications device while driving in a work zone. The bill expandsthe exemptions to include handheld personal communications devices that arebeing held and used (a) as an amateur radio or a citizens band radio or (b) forofficial Department of Transportation or traffic incident management services.The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021. This billincorporates HB 377, HB 387, HB 512, and HB 1672 and is identical to SB 160."
+jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
+legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
+session: "2020"
+identifier: "HB 874"
+citation: "Virginia HB 874 (2020)"
+classification: ["bill"]
+subjects: []
+status: "enacted"
+primary_sponsors: ["Jeffrey M. Bourne"]
+version_count: 5
+action_count: 41
+vote_count: 9
+first_action: "2020-01-07"
+last_action: "2020-03-10"
+source: "openstates"
+source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eee6bc98-66fb-48d9-9674-470f76cc1f18"
+source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB874"
+source_hash: "f0c7f0d39c0dceef2ea195a22c0b5b44df8cea401d0a010bd83421b0526d3707"
+vintage: "2026-07-01"
+source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
+retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
+confidence: "reported"
+tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
+---
+
+# Virginia HB 874 (2020) — Handheld personal communications devices; holding devices while driving a motor vehicle, penalty.
+
+Holding handheld personal communications devices whiledriving a motor vehicle. Prohibits any person from holding a handheldpersonal communications device while driving a motor vehicle. Current lawprohibits (i) the reading of any email or text message and manually enteringletters or text in such a device as a means of communicating and (ii) holding apersonal communications device while driving in a work zone. The bill expandsthe exemptions to include handheld personal communications devices that arebeing held and used (a) as an amateur radio or a citizens band radio or (b) forofficial Department of Transportation or traffic incident management services.The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021. This billincorporates HB 377, HB 387, HB 512, and HB 1672 and is identical to SB 160.
+
+## Version chain
+
+The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
+
+1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0250)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0250)
+2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB874ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874ER)
+3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB874H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874H1)
+4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB874)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874)
+5. **Impact statement from DPB (HB874S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874S1)
+
+## Votes
+
+- VOTE: Adoption (71-Y 26-N) — **70–26** (pass) · lower
+- Passed Senate with substitute (30-Y 7-N) — **30–7** (pass) · upper
+- VOTE: Passage (72-Y 24-N) — **71–24** (pass) · lower
+- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
+- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
+- Passed Senate with substitute (29-Y 9-N) — **29–9** (pass) · upper
+- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N 1-A) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
+- Reported from Transportation with substitute (11-Y 4-N) — **11–4** (pass) · upper
+- Reported from Transportation with substitute (19-Y 3-N) — **19–3** (pass) · lower
+
+## Sponsors
+
+- Jeffrey M. Bourne — primary (person)
+- Alex Q. Askew — cosponsor (person)
+- David L. Bulova — cosponsor (person)
+- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
+- Jerrauld C. "Jay" Jones — cosponsor (person)
+- Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
+- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
+- Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)
+- Scott Wyatt — cosponsor (person)
+
+## Timeline
+
+The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
+
+- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101920D `introduction`
+- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
+- **2020-01-14** Impact statement from DPB (HB874)
+- **2020-01-15** Assigned Transportation sub: Motor Vehicles `referral-committee`
+- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
+- **2020-01-30** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
+- **2020-01-30** Reported from Transportation with substitute (19-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
+- **2020-01-30** Committee substitute printed 20106899D-H1 `substitution`
+- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB512 (Bulova)
+- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB387 (Edmunds)
+- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB1672 (Ware)
+- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB377 (Willett)
+- **2020-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
+- **2020-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
+- **2020-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 20106899D-H1
+- **2020-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB874H1
+- **2020-02-05** Read third time and passed House (72-Y 24-N) `passage, reading-3`
+- **2020-02-05** VOTE: Passage (72-Y 24-N)
+- **2020-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
+- **2020-02-06** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
+- **2020-02-13** Reported from Transportation with substitute (11-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
+- **2020-02-13** Committee substitute printed 20108193D-S1 `substitution`
+- **2020-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB874S1)
+- **2020-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
+- **2020-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
+- **2020-02-18** Reading of substitute waived
+- **2020-02-18** Committee substitute agreed to 20108193D-S1
+- **2020-02-18** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB874S1
+- **2020-02-18** Passed Senate with substitute (30-Y 7-N) `passage`
+- **2020-02-18** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N 1-A)
+- **2020-02-18** Passed Senate with substitute (29-Y 9-N) `passage`
+- **2020-02-20** Placed on Calendar
+- **2020-02-20** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108193D-S1 (71-Y 26-N)
+- **2020-02-20** VOTE: Adoption (71-Y 26-N)
+- **2020-02-25** Enrolled
+- **2020-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB874ER)
+- **2020-02-25** Signed by Speaker
+- **2020-02-26** Signed by President
+- **2020-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2020
+- **2020-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 10, 2020
+- **2020-03-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 250 (effective 1/1/21) `executive-signature`
+
+## Source
+
+OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/eee6bc98-66fb-48d9-9674-470f76cc1f18`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
+