---
type: "Bill"
title: "Impersonating a law-enforcement officer; clarifies definition of \"facial covering,\" penalties."
description: "Impersonating law-enforcement officer; penalties. Creates a Class 5 felony for impersonating a law-enforcement officer while wearing a facial covering, as that term is defined in the bill, and a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent violation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 1492"
citation: "Virginia HB 1492 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Irene Shin"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 57
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2026-01-23"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2a41e212-81f6-4ac8-b69d-d20784dbd833"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB1492"
source_hash: "04e65ec7c04816a8b0d8c1608ca386f5859bee7b5efd5cee31dc01ec6f55de47"
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 1492 (2026) — Impersonating a law-enforcement officer; clarifies definition of "facial covering," penalties.

Impersonating law-enforcement officer; penalties. Creates a Class 5 felony for impersonating a law-enforcement officer while wearing a facial covering, as that term is defined in the bill, and a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent violation.

## 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/1095540.PDF)
2. **Conference Report** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211750.HTML)
3. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1186619.PDF)
4. **Finance and Appropriations Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1195948.PDF)
5. **Public Safety Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1132608.PDF)
6. **Subcommittee #3 Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1132045.PDF)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214525.PDF)

## Votes

- Passage R — **27–13** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **4–1** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **62–35** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Public Safety with substitute — **16–6** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **10–5** (pass) · upper
- Insist & Request R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **63–32** (pass) · lower
- Adopt Conference Committee Report R — **22–17** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **0–99** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Irene Shin — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Charlie Schmidt — cosponsor (person)
- Destiny LeVere Bolling — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
- Karen Keys-Gamarra — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-23** Presented and ordered printed 26105681D `introduction`
- **2026-01-23** Fiscal Impact statement From VCSC (1/23/2026 3:11 pm)
- **2026-01-23** Referred to Committee on Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-26** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1492)
- **2026-01-28** Assigned HMPPS sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-06** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-06** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (4-Y 1-N) `substitution`
- **2026-02-06** Reported from Public Safety with substitute (16-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-06** Committee substitute printed 26107156D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-06** Fiscal Impact statement From VCSC (2/6/2026 11:11 am)
- **2026-02-06** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1492)
- **2026-02-10** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-11** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-11** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-11** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-12** Read third time and passed House (62-Y 35-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-13** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-13** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-25** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-27** Committee substitute printed 26108679D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-27** Fiscal Impact statement From VCSC (2/27/2026 3:44 pm)
- **2026-02-27** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1492)
- **2026-03-04** Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-05** Committee substitute printed 26109161D-S2 `substitution`
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact statement From VCSC (3/5/2026 8:58 am)
- **2026-03-05** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-05** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-05** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1492)
- **2026-03-06** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-09** Passed by for the day
- **2026-03-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Courts of Justice Substitute rejected
- **2026-03-10** Finance and Appropriations Substitute agreed to
- **2026-03-10** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate with substitute (27-Y 13-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Senate substitute rejected by House (0-Y 99-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-12** Senate insisted on substitute Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-12** Senate requested conference committee `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-12** House acceded to request
- **2026-03-12** Conferees appointed by House
- **2026-03-12** House Conferees: Shin, Clark, Wilt
- **2026-03-12** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2026-03-12** Senate Conferees: Perry, Srinivasan, Stuart
- **2026-03-14** Conferees appointed by House
- **2026-03-14** House Conferees: Shin, Lopez, Wilt
- **2026-03-14** Conference Report released
- **2026-03-14** Conference report agreed to by House (63-Y 32-N 0-A) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-14** Conference report agreed to by Senate (22-Y 17-N 0-A) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1492ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-01** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1492)
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 867 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2a41e212-81f6-4ac8-b69d-d20784dbd833`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).