---
type: "Bill"
title: "Signing of pleadings, motions, and other papers; electronic signatures."
description: "Signing of pleadings, motions, and other papers;electronic signatures. Clarifies that an electronic signatureor a digital image of a signature shall satisfy the requirement in current law that every pleading, motion, or other paper of a partybe signed by at least one attorney of record. This bill is a recommendationof the Boyd-Graves Conference."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 171"
citation: "Virginia HB 171 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Karen Keys-Gamarra"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-01-02"
last_action: "2024-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9678edc8-9d67-442b-87c3-da60109d9ab6"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB171"
source_hash: "f936970ed414290be8fc62ca3926777ee874a60acf7517d50a826a2a9c3fd430"
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 171 (2024) — Signing of pleadings, motions, and other papers; electronic signatures.

Signing of pleadings, motions, and other papers;electronic signatures. Clarifies that an electronic signatureor a digital image of a signature shall satisfy the requirement in current law that every pleading, motion, or other paper of a partybe signed by at least one attorney of record. This bill is a recommendationof the Boyd-Graves Conference.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0020** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0020)
2. **HB171ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB171ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24102426D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB171)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Karen Keys-Gamarra — primary (person)
- Amy J. Laufer — cosponsor (person)
- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
- Rozia A. Henson, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24102426D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-02** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-19** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2024-01-26** Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-01-31** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-02-01** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-01** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2024-02-02** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-14** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-19** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-21** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-21** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB171ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-21** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-02-24** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-01** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 1, 2024 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 20 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0020)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9678edc8-9d67-442b-87c3-da60109d9ab6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).