---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Freedom of Information Act; state public bodies, meetings, virtual public access."
description: "Virginia Freedom of Information Act; state public bodies, meetings, virtual public access."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 1738"
citation: "Virginia HB 1738 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carr"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 41
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2023-01-09"
last_action: "2023-03-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dcd11019-1be6-4057-85d0-8ddafede7322"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+HB1738"
source_hash: "cec30ade230ea3f72537440da2693b9430e8b00c0f6855c2ee754e09ce54cb72"
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 1738 (2023) — Virginia Freedom of Information Act; state public bodies, meetings, virtual public access.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0536** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0536)
2. **Committee substitute printed 23104734D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1738H1)
3. **HB1738ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1738ER)
4. **HB1738H2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1738H2)
5. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23100100D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1738)

## Votes

- Passed Senate (38-Y 2-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N 1-A) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from General Laws with substitute (16-Y 6-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (80-Y 19-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carr — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23100100D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-09** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-11** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #4 `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB1738)
- **2023-01-17** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-01-17** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N) `substitution`
- **2023-01-17** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-24** Reported from General Laws with substitute (16-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-24** Committee substitute printed 23104734D-H1 `substitution`
- **2023-01-24** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-25** Assigned App. sub: General Government and Capital Outlay `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-30** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2023-01-30** Impact statement from DPB (HB1738H1)
- **2023-01-30** Reported from Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-01** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-02** Passed by for the day
- **2023-02-03** Passed by for the day
- **2023-02-06** Floor substitute printed 23106366D-H2 (Carr)
- **2023-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-06** Passed by temporarily
- **2023-02-06** Committee General Laws substitute rejected 23104734D-H1
- **2023-02-06** Substitute by Delegate Carr agreed to 23106366D-H2
- **2023-02-06** Engrossed by House - floor substitute HB1738H2
- **2023-02-07** Read third time and passed House (80-Y 19-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-07** VOTE: Passage (80-Y 19-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB1738H2)
- **2023-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2023-02-08** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-15** Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-20** Passed Senate (38-Y 2-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-23** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-23** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1738ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-23** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB1738ER)
- **2023-02-25** 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`
- **2023-03-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 536 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-26** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0536)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dcd11019-1be6-4057-85d0-8ddafede7322`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).