---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal appeals; duties of the Attorney General and attorney for the Commonwealth."
description: "Criminal appeals; duties of the Attorney General and attorney for the Commonwealth."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 2165"
citation: "Virginia HB 2165 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Williams"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-01-11"
last_action: "2023-03-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c02703de-1395-433f-b5bc-dd9c508ded72"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+HB2165"
source_hash: "f3ffa2d6958cd5272bd42b1518c8bf0b825e907c0922f2ccd95e3b744bd4ca3a"
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 2165 (2023) — Criminal appeals; duties of the Attorney General and attorney for the Commonwealth.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0314** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0314)
2. **Committee substitute printed 23105046D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2165H1)
3. **HB2165ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2165ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102466D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2165)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (12-Y 8-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary (13-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 2-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (54-Y 45-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102466D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-11** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-19** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-23** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-01-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 2-N) `substitution`
- **2023-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (12-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-27** Committee substitute printed 23105046D-H1 `substitution`
- **2023-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-01** Committee substitute agreed to 23105046D-H1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-01** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2165H1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-02** Read third time and passed House (54-Y 45-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-02** VOTE: Passage (54-Y 45-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2023-02-03** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB2165H1)
- **2023-02-13** Reported from Judiciary (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-15** Passed by for the day
- **2023-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-16** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-21** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2165ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB2165ER)
- **2023-02-21** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-23** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 314 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-23** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0314)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c02703de-1395-433f-b5bc-dd9c508ded72`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).