republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-7.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity, penalties.	Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity; penalties. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation because of such individual's ethnic origin and prohibits such discrimination. The bill also adds victims who are intentionally selected because of their ethnic origin to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of ethnic origin. This bill incorporates SB 120 and is identical to HB 18.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2024	SB 7	Virginia SB 7 (2024)	bill		enacted	Bryce E. Reeves	4	35	6	2023-11-20	2024-04-02	openstates	ocd-bill/63fe5f62-4309-4579-a64b-c75ba9cfb692	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB7	81ee470b60bae97e00e4a73ace23045bf54414acc10ab91bf068be8a4cb2c20d	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 7 (2024) — Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity, penalties.

Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity; penalties. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation because of such individual's ethnic origin and prohibits such discrimination. The bill also adds victims who are intentionally selected because of their ethnic origin to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of ethnic origin. This bill incorporates SB 120 and is identical to HB 18.

Version chain

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

1. CHAP0334 (committee substitute) — source
2. Committee substitute printed 24106213D-S1 (committee substitute) — source
3. Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100086D (committee substitute) — source
4. SB7ER (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 0-N) — 36–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — 99–0 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (14-Y 0-N) — 14–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 0-N 2-A) — 10–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Bryce E. Reeves — primary (person)
• Bill DeSteph — cosponsor (person)
• Christie New Craig — cosponsor (person)
• Christopher T. Head — cosponsor (person)
• David R. Suetterlein — cosponsor (person)
• Emily M. Jordan — cosponsor (person)
• Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
• J.D. "Danny" Diggs — cosponsor (person)
• John J. McGuire, III — cosponsor (person)
• Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
• Mark D. Obenshain — cosponsor (person)
• Mark J. Peake — cosponsor (person)
• Richard H. Stuart — cosponsor (person)
• Ryan T. McDougle — cosponsor (person)
• Suhas Subramanyam — cosponsor (person)
• T. Travis Hackworth — cosponsor (person)
• Tammy Brankley Mulchi — cosponsor (person)
• Tara A. Durant — cosponsor (person)
• Timmy F. French — cosponsor (person)
• William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2023-11-20 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100086D filing, introduction
• 2023-11-20 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2023-11-22 Impact statement from VCSC (SB7)
• 2024-01-10 Moved from Judiciary to Courts of Justice due to a change of the committee name
• 2024-01-22 Impact statement from DPB (SB7)
• 2024-01-24 Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (14-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-01-24 Committee substitute printed 24106213D-S1 substitution
• 2024-01-24 Incorporates SB120 (Subramanyam)
• 2024-01-24 Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations referral-committee
• 2024-01-29 Impact statement from VCSC (SB7S1)
• 2024-02-01 Impact statement from DPB (SB7S1)
• 2024-02-06 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 0-N 2-A) committee-passage
• 2024-02-07 Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
• 2024-02-08 Read second time reading-2
• 2024-02-08 Reading of substitute waived
• 2024-02-08 Committee substitute agreed to 24106213D-S1 substitution
• 2024-02-08 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB7S1 substitution
• 2024-02-09 Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2024-02-15 Placed on Calendar
• 2024-02-15 Read first time reading-1
• 2024-02-15 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2024-02-16 Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-02-20 Read second time reading-2
• 2024-02-21 Read third time reading-3
• 2024-02-21 Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) passage
• 2024-02-21 VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) passage
• 2024-02-26 Enrolled enrolled
• 2024-02-26 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB7ER) passage
• 2024-02-26 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2024-02-27 Impact statement from DPB (SB7ER)
• 2024-02-28 Signed by President passage
• 2024-03-11 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 enrolled
• 2024-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 executive-receipt
• 2024-04-02 Approved by Governor-Chapter 334 (effective 7/1/24) executive-signature
• 2024-04-02 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0334)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/63fe5f62-4309-4579-a64b-c75ba9cfb692. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).