---
type: "Bill"
title: "Motor vehicles, certain; use of handheld personal communication devices."
description: "Motor vehicles, certain; use of handheld personal communication devices."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 995"
citation: "Virginia SB 995 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marsden"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-06"
last_action: "2023-03-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c9129e3c-fd10-461c-a557-44f76a8be2db"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB995"
source_hash: "c040fabfd32842c90664bfbeaac4f753eb8f75815a174f3a14339f544cd31df5"
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 995 (2023) — Motor vehicles, certain; use of handheld personal communication devices.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0558** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0558)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102526D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB995)
3. **SB995ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB995ER)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate (25-Y 15-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Transportation (22-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from Transportation (13-Y 2-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Marsden — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102526D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-06** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB995)
- **2023-01-26** Reported from Transportation (13-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-30** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2023-01-31** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-02-01** Read third time and passed Senate (25-Y 15-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-08** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-09** Reported from Transportation (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-14** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-14** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-16** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB995ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (SB995ER)
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 558 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-26** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0558)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c9129e3c-fd10-461c-a557-44f76a8be2db`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).