---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contempt of court; willful failure to appear."
description: "Provides that contempt of court for willful failure to appear may be punished summarily. The bill also requires judges to indicate, in writing, the reason for a charge and punishment of contempt when punished summarily. As introduced, this bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2452"
citation: "Virginia HB 2452 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts Not of Record", "Crimes and Offenses Generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Les R. Adams"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-09"
last_action: "2019-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/309990c0-bae8-4831-bec3-9c9e7f6bb467"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2452"
source_hash: "b40f7c4d7a18ab4767ac29608a4a3152bd0655d148468e976708f0eab2608d3c"
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 2452 (2019) — Contempt of court; willful failure to appear.

Provides that contempt of court for willful failure to appear may be punished summarily. The bill also requires judges to indicate, in writing, the reason for a charge and punishment of contempt when punished summarily. As introduced, this bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0708)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0708)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2452AH)
3. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2452)
4. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2452ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2452ER)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19104039D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2452)
6. **House: Printed as engrossed 19104039D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2452E)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Les R. Adams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19104039D `introduction`
- **2019-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-15** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-24** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-01-24** Engrossed by House as amended HB2452E
- **2019-01-24** Printed as engrossed 19104039D-E
- **2019-01-25** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-28** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-13** Passed by for the day
- **2019-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled
- **2019-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 21, 2019
- **2019-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 708 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/309990c0-bae8-4831-bec3-9c9e7f6bb467`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).