republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-1846.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "License restrictions for minors; prohibition on use of handheld personal communications devices."
description: "License restrictions for minors; use of handheldpersonal communications devices. Clarifies that the prohibitionon the use of a handheld personal communications device or other wireless communications device by the holder of a provisional driver's licenseapplies regardless of whether or not the device is being used for communication purposes. The bill exempts the use of such device'sapplications for solely navigation purposes and global positioningsystems, provided that the driver does not enter information intoor manually manipulate the device or system while operating the vehicle."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1846"
citation: "Virginia HB 1846 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Roxann L. Robinson"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 32
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-01-07"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/218c26c3-6a3a-4a90-812c-40da340cfc9f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1846"
source_hash: "446fe7ce17805142d5dac43c2855c613b6c44898f78f6581ff4f45ba9674538f"
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 1846 (2021) — License restrictions for minors; prohibition on use of handheld personal communications devices.

License restrictions for minors; use of handheldpersonal communications devices. Clarifies that the prohibitionon the use of a handheld personal communications device or other wireless communications device by the holder of a provisional driver's licenseapplies regardless of whether or not the device is being used for communication purposes. The bill exempts the use of such device'sapplications for solely navigation purposes and global positioningsystems, provided that the driver does not enter information intoor manually manipulate the device or system while operating the vehicle.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0132** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0132)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21200068D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1846S1)
3. **HB1846ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1846ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101770D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1846)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Transportation (22-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Transportation with substitute (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Transportation (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Roxann L. Robinson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101770D `introduction`
- **2021-01-07** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-12** Assigned Transportation sub: Transportation Innovations and General Topics `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-19** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-21** Reported from Transportation (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-25** Passed by for the day
- **2021-01-26** Passed by for the day
- **2021-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-01-28** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-28** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-01-29** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Transportation (15-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-11** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-11** Reported from Transportation with substitute (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-11** Committee substitute printed 21200068D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-15** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-16** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-16** Committee substitute agreed to 21200068D-S1
- **2021-02-16** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1846S1
- **2021-02-16** Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-18** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-18** Senate substitute agreed to by House 21200068D-S1 (98-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-18** VOTE: Adoption (98-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-22** Enrolled
- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
- **2021-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2021
- **2021-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 132 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/218c26c3-6a3a-4a90-812c-40da340cfc9f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).