republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2025/sb-965.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	District courts; recording of proceedings.	Recording of proceedings in district courts. Allows an audio recording of proceedings in a district court, which includes both general district court and juvenile and domestic relations district court, to be made by a party or his counsel. Under current law, such recordings are only allowed in a general district court.Additionally, the bill (i) allows the judge of a juvenile and domestic relations district court to impose any restriction as necessary to comply with the confidentiality requirements applicable to such district court and (ii) prohibits the judge of a district court from (a) ordering or requiring a party or his counsel to submit a copy of such audio recording or transcript of such recording to the clerk of a district court to be maintained in such party's individual case file or (b) prohibiting a party or his counsel from providing such copy or transcript to the opposing party or his counsel.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2025	SB 965	Virginia SB 965 (2025)	bill		enacted	Jennifer D. Carroll Foy	5	32	6	2025-01-06	2025-03-24	openstates	ocd-bill/de65f788-8d7b-4779-91be-987b2511c043	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/SB965	ec392aabf6da882845d25802bb1664d4d2e310f5638a58327735b0f4ae55d6f0	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 965 (2025) — District courts; recording of proceedings.

Recording of proceedings in district courts. Allows an audio recording of proceedings in a district court, which includes both general district court and juvenile and domestic relations district court, to be made by a party or his counsel. Under current law, such recordings are only allowed in a general district court.Additionally, the bill (i) allows the judge of a juvenile and domestic relations district court to impose any restriction as necessary to comply with the confidentiality requirements applicable to such district court and (ii) prohibits the judge of a district court from (a) ordering or requiring a party or his counsel to submit a copy of such audio recording or transcript of such recording to the clerk of a district court to be maintained in such party's individual case file or (b) prohibiting a party or his counsel from providing such copy or transcript to the opposing party or his counsel.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. Courts of Justice Amendments (committee substitute) — source
4. Engrossed (committee substitute) — source
5. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• Passed House (96-Y 0-N) — 96–0 (pass) · lower
• Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (15-Y 0-N) — 15–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Jennifer D. Carroll Foy — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-01-06 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25104354D filing, introduction
• 2025-01-06 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2025-01-11 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB965)
• 2025-01-15 Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2025-01-17 Rules suspended
• 2025-01-17 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N)
• 2025-01-17 Passed by for the day
• 2025-01-20 Read second time reading-2
• 2025-01-20 Reading of amendments waived
• 2025-01-20 Courts of Justice Amendments agreed to amendment-passage
• 2025-01-20 Engrossed by Senate as amended
• 2025-01-20 Printed as engrossed 25104354D-E
• 2025-01-21 Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2025-01-25 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB965)
• 2025-02-05 Placed on Calendar
• 2025-02-05 Read first time reading-1
• 2025-02-05 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2025-02-05 Assigned Courts sub: Criminal referral-committee
• 2025-02-07 Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
• 2025-02-10 Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2025-02-12 Read second time reading-2
• 2025-02-13 Read third time reading-3
• 2025-02-13 Passed House (96-Y 0-N) passage
• 2025-02-18 Enrolled enrolled
• 2025-02-18 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB965ER) passage
• 2025-02-18 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB965)
• 2025-02-18 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2025-02-20 Signed by President passage
• 2025-03-03 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 enrolled
• 2025-03-03 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 executive-receipt
• 2025-03-24 Approved by Governor-Chapter 509 (Effective 07/01/25) executive-signature
• 2025-03-24 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0509)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/de65f788-8d7b-4779-91be-987b2511c043. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).