---
type: "Bill"
title: "Carnal knowledge and sexual battery; persons detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer."
description: "Carnal knowledge and sexual battery; persons detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer; confidential informants, pretrial defendants or posttrial offenders; penalty. Provides that an accused is guilty of carnal knowledge of a person serving as a confidential informant, defined in the bill, if he (i) is a law-enforcement officer; (ii) knows that such person is serving as a confidential informant for the law-enforcement agency where such officer is employed; and (iii) carnally knows, without use of force, threat, or intimidation, such confidential informant while such person is serving as a confidential informant or is expected to testify in a criminal case for which the confidential informant assisted the law-enforcement agency with its investigation. The bill provides that such offense is a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that an accused is guilty of sexual battery if he sexually abuses (a) a person detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer and the accused is a law-enforcement officer, (b) a pretrial defendant or posttrial offender and the accused is an owner or employee of the bail company that posted the pretrial defendant's or posttrial offender's bond, or (c) a person serving as a confidential informant and the accused is a law-enforcement officer. Current law provides that sexual battery is a Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 6 felony for a third or subsequent offense."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 394"
citation: "Virginia SB 394 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Russet Perry"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 51
vote_count: 13
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0f4e177f-166c-42f4-a809-2bb83afbb025"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB394"
source_hash: "a3bccea46d52a446c0eb720afd3f214759c4b6c21a74c8e01fbb8e506e869cd6"
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 394 (2024) — Carnal knowledge and sexual battery; persons detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer.

Carnal knowledge and sexual battery; persons detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer; confidential informants, pretrial defendants or posttrial offenders; penalty. Provides that an accused is guilty of carnal knowledge of a person serving as a confidential informant, defined in the bill, if he (i) is a law-enforcement officer; (ii) knows that such person is serving as a confidential informant for the law-enforcement agency where such officer is employed; and (iii) carnally knows, without use of force, threat, or intimidation, such confidential informant while such person is serving as a confidential informant or is expected to testify in a criminal case for which the confidential informant assisted the law-enforcement agency with its investigation. The bill provides that such offense is a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that an accused is guilty of sexual battery if he sexually abuses (a) a person detained or arrested by a law-enforcement officer and the accused is a law-enforcement officer, (b) a pretrial defendant or posttrial offender and the accused is an owner or employee of the bail company that posted the pretrial defendant's or posttrial offender's bond, or (c) a person serving as a confidential informant and the accused is a law-enforcement officer. Current law provides that sexual battery is a Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 6 felony for a third or subsequent offense.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0592** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0592)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24106165D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB394S1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 24108136D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB394H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104794D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB394)
5. **SB394ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB394ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Referred from Public Safety — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (29-Y 11-N) — **29–11** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Russet Perry — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104794D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-11** Impact statement from VCSC (SB394)
- **2024-01-31** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-31** Committee substitute printed 24106165D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-01-31** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-02** Impact statement from VCSC (SB394S1)
- **2024-02-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB394S1)
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-09** Reading of substitute waived
- **2024-02-09** Committee substitute agreed to 24106165D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-09** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB394S1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-15** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-15** Referred to Committee on Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Referred from Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-20** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2024-02-21** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-23** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-23** Committee substitute printed 24108136D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-23** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-26** Impact statement from VCSC (SB394H1)
- **2024-02-26** Impact statement from DPB (SB394H1)
- **2024-02-28** Reported from Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-04** Committee substitute agreed to 24108136D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-03-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB394H1 `substitution`
- **2024-03-04** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-04** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-05** Passed by temporarily
- **2024-03-05** House substitute agreed to by Senate (29-Y 11-N) `substitution`
- **2024-03-05** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-03-05** House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2024-03-05** Title replaced 24108136D-H1
- **2024-03-08** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-08** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB394ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-08** Impact statement from DPB (SB394ER)
- **2024-03-08** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-09** 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 592 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-05** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0592)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0f4e177f-166c-42f4-a809-2bb83afbb025`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).