---
type: "Bill"
title: "District courts; recording of proceedings."
description: "Recording of proceedings in district courts. Allows an audio recording of proceedings in a district court, which includes both general district court and juvenile and domestic relations district court, to be made by a party or his counsel. Under current law, such recordings are only allowed in a general district court.Additionally, the bill (i) allows the judge of a juvenile and domestic relations district court to impose any restriction as necessary to comply with the confidentiality requirements applicable to such district court and (ii) prohibits the judge of a district court from (a) ordering or requiring a party or his counsel to submit a copy of such audio recording or transcript of such recording to the clerk of a district court to be maintained in such party's individual case file or (b) prohibiting a party or his counsel from providing such copy or transcript to the opposing party or his counsel."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 965"
citation: "Virginia SB 965 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jennifer D. Carroll Foy"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 32
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-01-06"
last_action: "2025-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/de65f788-8d7b-4779-91be-987b2511c043"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/SB965"
source_hash: "ec392aabf6da882845d25802bb1664d4d2e310f5638a58327735b0f4ae55d6f0"
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 965 (2025) — District courts; recording of proceedings.

Recording of proceedings in district courts. Allows an audio recording of proceedings in a district court, which includes both general district court and juvenile and domestic relations district court, to be made by a party or his counsel. Under current law, such recordings are only allowed in a general district court.Additionally, the bill (i) allows the judge of a juvenile and domestic relations district court to impose any restriction as necessary to comply with the confidentiality requirements applicable to such district court and (ii) prohibits the judge of a district court from (a) ordering or requiring a party or his counsel to submit a copy of such audio recording or transcript of such recording to the clerk of a district court to be maintained in such party's individual case file or (b) prohibiting a party or his counsel from providing such copy or transcript to the opposing party or his counsel.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1014631.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1077007.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Amendments** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1020954.HTML)
4. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1023437.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1051268.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed House (96-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jennifer D. Carroll Foy — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25104354D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-11** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB965)
- **2025-01-15** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-17** Rules suspended
- **2025-01-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N)
- **2025-01-17** Passed by for the day
- **2025-01-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-01-20** Reading of amendments waived
- **2025-01-20** Courts of Justice Amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2025-01-20** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2025-01-20** Printed as engrossed 25104354D-E
- **2025-01-21** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-25** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB965)
- **2025-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2025-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-05** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-07** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-10** Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-13** Passed House (96-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-18** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-02-18** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB965ER) `passage`
- **2025-02-18** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB965)
- **2025-02-18** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-20** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-03** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 `enrolled`
- **2025-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 509 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-24** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0509)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/de65f788-8d7b-4779-91be-987b2511c043`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).