---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Freedom of Information Act; public access to meetings of public bodies."
description: "Virginia Freedom of Information Act; public access to meetings of public bodies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1540"
citation: "Virginia HB 1540 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Administration of Government", "Consumer Protection", "Counties", "Cities and Towns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James M. LeMunyon"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2016-12-27"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cb5b3226-dd06-4845-aa43-ef67693bba0f"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1540"
source_hash: "de02e41fcb09d4ead11af7003b93fb4d8092d970b5a7dddf77aa4019c5c36c15"
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 1540 (2017) — Virginia Freedom of Information Act; public access to meetings of public bodies.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0616)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0616)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1540ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1540ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101247D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1540)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **12–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws — **20–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- James M. LeMunyon — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-12-27** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101247D `introduction`
- **2016-12-27** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-11** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-07** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 616 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cb5b3226-dd06-4845-aa43-ef67693bba0f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).