republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2025/hb-2117.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Experiencing or reporting an overdose or act of sexual violence; arrest and prosecution."
description: "Arrest and prosecution when experiencing or reporting an overdose or act of sexual violence. Provides that no individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for the unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol or marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, intoxication in public, or possession of controlled paraphernalia if the individual, in good faith, seeks or obtains assistance for himself or another individual from emergency medical services personnel, a health care provider, or a law-enforcement officer, as those terms are defined in relevant law, and seeks to report an act of sexual violence committed against himself or another individual, so long as (i) such individual identifies himself to the law-enforcement officer who responds to the report of the act of sexual violence and (ii) the evidence for the prosecution of such an offense was obtained as a result of the individual seeking or obtaining medical attention, rendering care or assistance, or reporting to law enforcement. However, such immunity shall not apply to an individual who is alleged to have committed the act of sexual violence or if the emergency medical attention was sought or obtained during the execution of a search warrant or during the conduct of a lawful search or a lawful arrest.The bill also provides that no individual immune to arrest or prosecution when experiencing or reporting an overdose or act of sexual violence shall have his bail, probation, furlough, supervised release, suspended sentence, or parole revoked for the behavior immune from arrest or prosecution under the provisions of applicable law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 2117"
citation: "Virginia HB 2117 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Karen Keys-Gamarra"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2025-01-07"
last_action: "2025-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23d3a3a5-f945-42db-a28e-94b4d42106ba"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB2117"
source_hash: "5a70eaa65666d0ff7a82810dc6fb0b9017a7076ea499359e634e2d3d5664b1b7"
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 2117 (2025) — Experiencing or reporting an overdose or act of sexual violence; arrest and prosecution.

Arrest and prosecution when experiencing or reporting an overdose or act of sexual violence. Provides that no individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for the unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol or marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, intoxication in public, or possession of controlled paraphernalia if the individual, in good faith, seeks or obtains assistance for himself or another individual from emergency medical services personnel, a health care provider, or a law-enforcement officer, as those terms are defined in relevant law, and seeks to report an act of sexual violence committed against himself or another individual, so long as (i) such individual identifies himself to the law-enforcement officer who responds to the report of the act of sexual violence and (ii) the evidence for the prosecution of such an offense was obtained as a result of the individual seeking or obtaining medical attention, rendering care or assistance, or reporting to law enforcement. However, such immunity shall not apply to an individual who is alleged to have committed the act of sexual violence or if the emergency medical attention was sought or obtained during the execution of a search warrant or during the conduct of a lawful search or a lawful arrest.The bill also provides that no individual immune to arrest or prosecution when experiencing or reporting an overdose or act of sexual violence shall have his bail, probation, furlough, supervised release, suspended sentence, or parole revoked for the behavior immune from arrest or prosecution under the provisions of applicable law.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1015173.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1074065.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Amendments** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1024012.HTML)
4. **Courts of Justice Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1055140.HTML)
5. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1030220.PDF)
6. **Senate Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1062420.HTML)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1066968.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Amendment agreed to by House (96-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Karen Keys-Gamarra — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-13-2025 25104517D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-18** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (8-Y 0-N)
- **2025-01-24** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-01-29** Courts of Justice Amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2025-01-29** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2025-01-29** Printed as engrossed 25104517D-E
- **2025-01-30** Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2025-01-31** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-17** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-18** Rules suspended
- **2025-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-18** Passed by for the day
- **2025-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-19** Reading of amendment waived
- **2025-02-19** Courts of Justice Amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2025-02-19** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2025-02-19** Passed Senate with amendment (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-20** Senate Amendment agreed to by House (96-Y 0-N) `amendment-passage`
- **2025-03-07** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-03-07** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2117ER) `passage`
- **2025-03-07** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-03-10** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 396 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-24** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0396)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/23d3a3a5-f945-42db-a28e-94b4d42106ba`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).