republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-113.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism, definitions."
description: "Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 113"
citation: "Virginia HB 113 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Danica A. Roem"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-12-13"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7a47ade0-e76a-4dac-90b6-20ba2e818e17"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB113"
source_hash: "88729966a22e6bb613070dd2af89c92c6fb30dc8d8b0cbc59854fddb34fc36a7"
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 113 (2020) — Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism, definitions.

Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0650)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0650)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB113ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB113ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB113H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB113H1)
4. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB113H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB113)
5. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB113S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB113S1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute (31-Y 9-N) — **31–9** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (61-Y 35-N) — **60–35** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (16-Y 6-N) — **16–6** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (5-Y 2-N) — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (60-Y 39-N) — **59–39** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 0-N) — **12–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Danica A. Roem — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Charniele L. Herring — cosponsor (person)
- Chris Collins-Resigned 6/28/20 — cosponsor (person)
- Chris L. Hurst — cosponsor (person)
- Clinton L. Jenkins — cosponsor (person)
- David A. Reid — cosponsor (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Hala S. Ayala — cosponsor (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
- Jason S. Miyares — cosponsor (person)
- Joshua G. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Karrie K. Delaney — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Martha M. Mugler — cosponsor (person)
- Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
- R. Lee Ware — cosponsor (person)
- Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-12-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100888D `introduction`
- **2019-12-13** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-30** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-31** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (5-Y 2-N)
- **2020-02-05** Committee substitute printed 20107678D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (16-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-07** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-07** Committee substitute agreed to 20107678D-H1
- **2020-02-07** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB113H1
- **2020-02-10** Read third time and passed House (60-Y 39-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-10** VOTE: Passage (60-Y 39-N)
- **2020-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-11** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-19** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-19** Committee substitute printed 20108717D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-21** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-24** Committee substitute agreed to 20108717D-S1
- **2020-02-24** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB113S1
- **2020-02-24** Passed Senate with substitute (31-Y 9-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-26** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108717D-S1 (61-Y 35-N)
- **2020-02-26** VOTE: Adoption (61-Y 35-N)
- **2020-03-02** Enrolled
- **2020-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-03** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 650 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7a47ade0-e76a-4dac-90b6-20ba2e818e17`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).