---
type: "Bill"
title: "Unmanned aircraft systems; use by law-enforcement officers, search warrants."
description: "Use of unmanned aircraft systems by law-enforcement officers; search warrants; model policy. Expedites the issuance of a search warrant for unmanned aircraft systems by law-enforcement officers upon a finding of reasonable and probable cause by an authorized judicial official, as defined in the bill, and permits the use of unmanned aircraft systems without a search warrant when law enforcement is surveying the scene of a crime or to respond to a public safety call for service when such crime scene or call for service is located on public property, to locate a person when such person has fled the offense location during the initial response to an incident, or to provide real-time aerial observation to increase on-scene safety and security. Such provisions are subject to a reenactment clause. The bill also requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in consultation with the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission and the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys, to establish a model policy for the use of unmanned aircraft systems by December 1, 2026. This bill is identical to HB 1219."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 647"
citation: "Virginia SB 647 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Todd E. Pillion"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 34
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/257c3746-b990-4cc4-a8d8-ca7cc204a201"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB647"
source_hash: "92cf28ba043cab00fb88ee04eb85d475e2d3e05d4402a82835c97aeae3894ea3"
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 647 (2026) — Unmanned aircraft systems; use by law-enforcement officers, search warrants.

Use of unmanned aircraft systems by law-enforcement officers; search warrants; model policy. Expedites the issuance of a search warrant for unmanned aircraft systems by law-enforcement officers upon a finding of reasonable and probable cause by an authorized judicial official, as defined in the bill, and permits the use of unmanned aircraft systems without a search warrant when law enforcement is surveying the scene of a crime or to respond to a public safety call for service when such crime scene or call for service is located on public property, to locate a person when such person has fled the offense location during the initial response to an incident, or to provide real-time aerial observation to increase on-scene safety and security. Such provisions are subject to a reenactment clause. The bill also requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in consultation with the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission and the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys, to establish a model policy for the use of unmanned aircraft systems by December 1, 2026. This bill is identical to HB 1219.

## 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/1091619.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217218.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1189982.HTML)
4. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1143298.PDF)
5. **House Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1194174.HTML)
6. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1202777.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **13–1** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Concur House Amendment R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **97–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Todd E. Pillion — primary (person)
- Bill DeSteph — cosponsor (person)
- Christie New Craig — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-14** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103704D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-14** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-11** Senate committee offered
- **2026-02-11** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (13-Y 1-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-12** Committee substitute printed 26106981D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-13** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-13** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (36-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-13** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-16** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-16** Committee substitute agreed to (Voice Vote) `substitution`
- **2026-02-16** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute (Voice Vote) `substitution`
- **2026-02-16** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB647)
- **2026-02-17** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-24** Placed on Calendar
- **2026-02-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-24** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-02** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-04** committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-04** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2026-03-04** Passed House with amendment (97-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2026-03-04** Passed House with amendment (99-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-06** House amendment agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-12** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-12** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB647ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-12** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-12** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-18** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB647)
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 271 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0271)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/257c3746-b990-4cc4-a8d8-ca7cc204a201`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).