---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Public Records Act; confidentiality of certain archived records."
description: "Virginia Public Records Act; confidentiality of certain archived records."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 1844"
citation: "Virginia HB 1844 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Taylor"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0cf14321-573e-4908-901a-fa62b2a4e9f2"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+HB1844"
source_hash: "dd5b75cfe0dcfeb4586690091fe6cd5ed4eae5085c9b90b251b5ba785c46bd75"
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 1844 (2023) — Virginia Public Records Act; confidentiality of certain archived records.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0126** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0126)
2. **HB1844ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1844ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23101170D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1844)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from General Laws (15-Y 7-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (66-Y 34-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Taylor — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23101170D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-10** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB1844)
- **2023-01-18** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #4 `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 1-N)
- **2023-01-26** Reported from General Laws (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-01-31** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-02-01** Passed by temporarily
- **2023-02-01** Read third time and passed House (66-Y 34-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-01** VOTE: Passage (66-Y 34-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2023-02-02** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-08** Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-13** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-16** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1844ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB1844ER)
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 126 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-21** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0126)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0cf14321-573e-4908-901a-fa62b2a4e9f2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).