---
type: "Bill"
title: "Computer trespass; government computers and computers used for public utilities, penalty."
description: "Increases the Class 1 misdemeanor computer trespass crimes to a Class 6 felony if the computer affected is one that is exclusively for the use of, or used by or for, the Commonwealth, a local government within the Commonwealth, or certain public utilities."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1815"
citation: "Virginia HB 1815 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Appropriations", "Computer Services and Uses", "Crimes and Offenses Generally", "Public Service Companies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David E. Yancey"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 27
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2017-01-09"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8da40b71-9c32-4498-a254-df9e287ec155"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1815"
source_hash: "e97ec5256153c3f846c8e0423e665d6d881202df5cd68e41503a5eb638ebc60f"
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 1815 (2017) — Computer trespass; government computers and computers used for public utilities, penalty.

Increases the Class 1 misdemeanor computer trespass crimes to a Class 6 felony if the computer affected is one that is exclusively for the use of, or used by or for, the Commonwealth, a local government within the Commonwealth, or certain public utilities.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0562)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0562)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1815ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1815ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102280D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1815)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17102280D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1815E)
5. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105361D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1815S1)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **6–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations — **20–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance — **16–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105361D-S1 — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **11–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- David E. Yancey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102280D `introduction`
- **2017-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-30** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-30** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2017-02-01** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Assigned App. sub: Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House as amended HB1815E
- **2017-02-06** Printed as engrossed 17102280D-E
- **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 for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-17** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-17** Committee substitute agreed to 17105361D-S1
- **2017-02-17** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1815S1
- **2017-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-21** Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105361D-S1 (97-Y 0-N)
- **2017-02-24** Enrolled
- **2017-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 562 (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/8da40b71-9c32-4498-a254-df9e287ec155`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).