---
type: "Bill"
title: "Student journalists; freedom of speech and the press, definitions."
description: "Student journalists; freedom of speech andthe press. Declares that, except in certain limited circumstances,a student journalist at a public middle school or high school orpublic institution of higher education has the right to exercisefreedom of speech and the press in school-sponsored media, includingdetermining the news, opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially by the school board or governing board, supported throughthe use of school or campus facilities, or produced in conjunctionwith a class or course in which the student is enrolled. The billdefines \"school-sponsored media\" as any material that is prepared, substantially written, published, or broadcast by a student journalistat a public middle school or high school or public institution ofhigher education under the direction of a student media adviser anddistributed or generally made available to members of the studentbody."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 36"
citation: "Virginia HB 36 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chris L. Hurst"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 51
vote_count: 14
first_action: "2019-11-19"
last_action: "2020-04-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cdb3d08b-4aea-4919-8890-8754d6fcd81d"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB36"
source_hash: "8e6c03d8e790eb680032805510a80798f96062a9dfe890d1c5e3b0d59f15b558"
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 36 (2020) — Student journalists; freedom of speech and the press, definitions.

Student journalists; freedom of speech andthe press. Declares that, except in certain limited circumstances,a student journalist at a public middle school or high school orpublic institution of higher education has the right to exercisefreedom of speech and the press in school-sponsored media, includingdetermining the news, opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially by the school board or governing board, supported throughthe use of school or campus facilities, or produced in conjunctionwith a class or course in which the student is enrolled. The billdefines "school-sponsored media" as any material that is prepared, substantially written, published, or broadcast by a student journalistat a public middle school or high school or public institution ofhigher education under the direction of a student media adviser anddistributed or generally made available to members of the studentbody.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0947)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0947)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB36ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB36ER)
3. **HB36H2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB36H2)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB36)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB36)
5. **Impact statement from DPB (HB36H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB36H1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (28-Y 11-N) — **28–11** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with amendments (29-Y 11-N) — **29–11** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (79-Y 16-N) — **78–16** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendments (28-Y 12-N) — **28–12** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education with substitute (20-Y 2-N) — **20–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (86-Y 14-N) — **85–14** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with amendments (9-Y 5-N) — **9–5** (pass) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (28-Y 10-N 1-A) — **28–10** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of conference report agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower
- Senate insisted on amendments (32-Y 4-N) — **32–4** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 95-N) — **1–94** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chris L. Hurst — primary (person)
- Danica A. Roem — cosponsor (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-11-19** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100406D `introduction`
- **2019-11-19** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-13** Impact statement from DPB (HB36)
- **2020-01-13** Assigned Education sub: Post-Secondary and Higher Ed `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 3-N)
- **2020-02-03** Reported from Education with substitute (20-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-03** Committee substitute printed 20104720D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-05** Impact statement from DPB (HB36H1)
- **2020-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 20104720D-H1
- **2020-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB36H1
- **2020-02-07** Read third time and passed House (86-Y 14-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-07** VOTE: Passage (86-Y 14-N)
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-10** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-27** Reported from Education and Health with amendments (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-02** Passed by for the day
- **2020-03-03** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-03** Reading of amendments waived
- **2020-03-03** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2020-03-03** Reading of amendments waived
- **2020-03-03** Amendments by Senator Petersen agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2020-03-03** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2020-03-03** Passed Senate with amendments (28-Y 12-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-03** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-03** Passed Senate with amendments (29-Y 11-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-03-04** Senate amendments rejected by House (1-Y 95-N)
- **2020-03-04** VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 95-N)
- **2020-03-05** Senate insisted on amendments (32-Y 4-N)
- **2020-03-05** Senate requested conference committee
- **2020-03-05** House acceded to request
- **2020-03-05** Conferees appointed by House
- **2020-03-05** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2020-03-07** Amended by conference committee
- **2020-03-07** Conference substitute printed 20109858D-H2
- **2020-03-07** Conference report agreed to by House (79-Y 16-N)
- **2020-03-07** VOTE: Adoption (79-Y 16-N)
- **2020-03-07** Conference report agreed to by Senate (28-Y 10-N 1-A)
- **2020-03-07** Reconsideration of conference report agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-07** Conference report agreed to by Senate (28-Y 11-N)
- **2020-03-18** Enrolled
- **2020-03-18** Signed by President
- **2020-03-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-20** Impact statement from DPB (HB36ER)
- **2020-03-20** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 20, 2020
- **2020-03-20** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-09** Approved by Governor-Chapter 947 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cdb3d08b-4aea-4919-8890-8754d6fcd81d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).