republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1941.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Immunity of persons; statements regarding matters of public concern communicated to a third party."
description: "Adds defamation to the causes of action from which a citizen shall be immune when making statements (i) regarding matters of public concern to a third party or (ii) at a public hearing before the governing body of any locality or other political subdivision, or the boards, commissions, agencies, and authorities thereof, and other governing bodies of any local governmental entity. The bill further provides that the immunity does not apply to any statements made with actual or constructive knowledge that they are false, or with reckless disregard for whether they are false. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1941"
citation: "Virginia HB 1941 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies and Procedure"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Terry G. Kilgore"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 29
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fdb567c9-0f21-4b64-96b4-005c376165d6"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1941"
source_hash: "3d3ad126cb96a761c483d7b4d49fe1dfe8f054e80f36670770e77dfb7b72b7c4"
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 1941 (2017) — Immunity of persons; statements regarding matters of public concern communicated to a third party.

Adds defamation to the causes of action from which a citizen shall be immune when making statements (i) regarding matters of public concern to a third party or (ii) at a public hearing before the governing body of any locality or other political subdivision, or the boards, commissions, agencies, and authorities thereof, and other governing bodies of any local governmental entity. The bill further provides that the immunity does not apply to any statements made with actual or constructive knowledge that they are false, or with reckless disregard for whether they are false. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0586)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0586)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1941ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1941ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104831D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1941H1)
4. **House: Conference substitute printed 17105858D-H2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1941H2)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103695D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1941)
6. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105353D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1941S1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **7–3** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **38–1** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate insisted on substitute — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **13–7** (pass) · legislature
- Senate substitute rejected by House 17105353D-S1 — **0–97** (fail) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **74–23** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Terry G. Kilgore — primary (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103695D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 17104831D-H1
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1941H1
- **2017-02-07** Read third time and passed House (74-Y 23-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-20** Committee substitute agreed to 17105353D-S1
- **2017-02-20** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1941S1
- **2017-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-21** Senate substitute rejected by House 17105353D-S1 (0-Y 97-N)
- **2017-02-22** Senate requested conference committee
- **2017-02-23** House acceded to request
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-25** Amended by conference committee
- **2017-02-25** Conference substitute printed 17105858D-H2
- **2017-02-25** Conference report agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N)
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 586 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fdb567c9-0f21-4b64-96b4-005c376165d6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).