republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-849.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political campaign advertisements; disclosure requirements, advertisements placed, etc."
description: "Political campaign advertisements; applicability of disclosure requirements to advertisements placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform; identification and certification requirements. Subjects any message that is placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform to the same disclosure requirements to which print media, television, and radio advertisements are subject. The bill adds definitions for purposes of the political advertisement disclosure requirements for \"online platform,\" \"online political advertisement,\" and \"online political advertiser.\" The bill expands the definition of \"print media\" to include any non-video or non-audio message placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform, subjects advertisements in video format that are placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform to the same disclosure requirements to which television advertisements are subject, and subjects advertisements in audio format that are placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform to the same disclosure requirements to which radio advertisements are subject. The bill also requires online platforms to establish reasonable procedures to enable online political advertisers to identify themselves as online political advertisers and to certify to the online platform that they are permitted to lawfully purchase or promote for a fee online political advertisements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 849"
citation: "Virginia HB 849 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marcus B. Simon"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 36
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/57e5ec03-9689-40e3-8817-ee4d28daae58"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB849"
source_hash: "dde2475719e7f5861ba7d77bad0fba4060fa355ce84fc3cda1ee1c9beebcd3f8"
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 849 (2020) — Political campaign advertisements; disclosure requirements, advertisements placed, etc.

Political campaign advertisements; applicability of disclosure requirements to advertisements placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform; identification and certification requirements. Subjects any message that is placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform to the same disclosure requirements to which print media, television, and radio advertisements are subject. The bill adds definitions for purposes of the political advertisement disclosure requirements for "online platform," "online political advertisement," and "online political advertiser." The bill expands the definition of "print media" to include any non-video or non-audio message placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform, subjects advertisements in video format that are placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform to the same disclosure requirements to which television advertisements are subject, and subjects advertisements in audio format that are placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform to the same disclosure requirements to which radio advertisements are subject. The bill also requires online platforms to establish reasonable procedures to enable online political advertisers to identify themselves as online political advertisers and to certify to the online platform that they are permitted to lawfully purchase or promote for a fee online political advertisements.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0551)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0551)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB849ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB849ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB849S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB849S1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB849)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB849)

## Votes

- VOTE: (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 0-N) — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Privileges and Elections (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Tabled in Privileges and Elections (17-Y 4-N) — **17–4** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Marcus B. Simon — primary (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101292D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-13** Assigned P & E sub: Campaign Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Impact statement from DPB (HB849)
- **2020-01-16** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-17** Tabled in Privileges and Elections (17-Y 4-N)
- **2020-01-24** Reconsidered by Privileges and Elections - removed from table (19-Y 3-N)
- **2020-01-24** Yea - 19 Lindsey, Simon, Sickles, Rasoul, Price, Krizek, Levine, Adams, D.M., VanValkenburg,
- **2020-01-24** Convers-Fowler, Reid, Askew, Simonds, Orrock, O'Quinn, Head, Rush, Bloxom, Runion
- **2020-01-24** Nay 3 - Cole, M.L., Adams, L.R., McGuire
- **2020-01-24** Reported from Privileges and Elections (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-29** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-30** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-30** VOTE: (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-01-31** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Committee substitute printed 20108333D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-21** Committee substitute agreed to 20108333D-S1
- **2020-02-21** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB849S1
- **2020-02-21** Passed Senate with substitute (38-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (HB849S1)
- **2020-02-25** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-25** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108333D-S1 (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-25** VOTE: Adoption (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-02** Enrolled
- **2020-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB849ER)
- **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
- **2020-03-31** Approved by Governor-Chapter 551 (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/57e5ec03-9689-40e3-8817-ee4d28daae58`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).