---
type: "Bill"
title: "Protective orders; cases of family abuse, cellular telephone numbers or other electronic device."
description: "Provides that as a condition to be imposed by the court on the respondent, a petitioner with a protective order issued in a case that alleges family abuse and, where appropriate, any other family or household member may be granted exclusive use and possession of a cellular telephone number or electronic device. The bill further provides that a respondent may be enjoined from terminating a cellular telephone number or electronic device before the expiration of the contract term with a third-party provider. The bill provides that the court may enjoin the respondent from using a cellular telephone or electronic device to locate the petitioner."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 262"
citation: "Virginia HB 262 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts Not of Record", "Criminal Procedure", "Domestic Relations", "Public Service Companies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jason S. Miyares"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2018-01-03"
last_action: "2018-02-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cdf368aa-0b88-4354-93e8-3c842fc5e8a4"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB262"
source_hash: "441735ad83e0ceb1592080592160d7a11a434555be61b87b8c39194bcf6b4834"
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 262 (2018) — Protective orders; cases of family abuse, cellular telephone numbers or other electronic device.

Provides that as a condition to be imposed by the court on the respondent, a petitioner with a protective order issued in a case that alleges family abuse and, where appropriate, any other family or household member may be granted exclusive use and possession of a cellular telephone number or electronic device. The bill further provides that a respondent may be enjoined from terminating a cellular telephone number or electronic device before the expiration of the contract term with a third-party provider. The bill provides that the court may enjoin the respondent from using a cellular telephone or electronic device to locate the petitioner.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0038)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+CHAP0038)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB262ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB262ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 18105436D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB262H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102527D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB262)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **12–3** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **18–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Jason S. Miyares — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102527D `introduction`
- **2018-01-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-16** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-01** Committee substitute agreed to 18105436D-H1
- **2018-02-01** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB262H1
- **2018-02-02** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-16** Enrolled
- **2018-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-19** Signed by President
- **2018-02-19** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 19, 2018
- **2018-02-19** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 26, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 38 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cdf368aa-0b88-4354-93e8-3c842fc5e8a4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).