---
type: "Bill"
title: "Administrative and civil proceedings; protected information, newspersons engaged in journalism."
description: "Protected information in administrative and civil proceedings; newspersons engaged in journalism. Expands the protected information privilege for newspersons to administrative and civil proceedings. Under current law, a newsperson engaged in journalism shall not be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, with certain exceptions, in criminal proceedings only."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 321"
citation: "Virginia SB 321 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Danica A. Roem"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 29
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/aad77c5f-b9cb-429e-8842-7509156b53ef"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB321"
source_hash: "dc02c6abf5ee2ee716c92b9aa6bbf42cef3361232589c387814273349dc59cdd"
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 SB 321 (2024) — Administrative and civil proceedings; protected information, newspersons engaged in journalism.

Protected information in administrative and civil proceedings; newspersons engaged in journalism. Expands the protected information privilege for newspersons to administrative and civil proceedings. Under current law, a newsperson engaged in journalism shall not be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, with certain exceptions, in criminal proceedings only.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0589** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0589)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100946D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB321)
3. **SB321ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB321ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (10-Y 5-N) — **10–5** (pass) · upper
- House amendments agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (71-Y 28-N) — **70–28** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (11-Y 10-N) — **11–10** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Danica A. Roem — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100946D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-10** Moved from Judiciary to Courts of Justice due to a change of the committee name
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Courts of Justice (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-02-12** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-15** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-15** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-15** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (5-Y 3-N)
- **2024-02-23** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (11-Y 10-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-28** Committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-28** Passed by temporarily
- **2024-02-28** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2024-02-28** Passed House with amendments (71-Y 28-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** VOTE: Passage (71-Y 28-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-01** House amendments agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) `amendment-passage`
- **2024-03-06** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-06** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB321ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-06** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 589 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-05** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0589)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/aad77c5f-b9cb-429e-8842-7509156b53ef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).