republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-1941.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Driving while intoxicated or operating watercraft while intoxicated; maiming, etc., of another."
description: "Increases from a Class 6 felony to a Class 4 felony the punishment for a person who, as a result of driving while intoxicated or operating a watercraft or motorboat while intoxicated in a manner so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show reckless disregard for human life, unintentionally causes the serious bodily injury, as defined in the bill, of another person resulting in permanent and significant physical impairment. The bill creates a Class 6 felony for such driving or operation that unintentionally causes the serious bodily injury, as defined in the bill, of another person."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1941"
citation: "Virginia HB 1941 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Appropriations", "Crimes and Offenses Generally", "Motor Vehicles"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert B. Bell"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 29
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2019-01-06"
last_action: "2019-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e2dfa836-4bcf-4748-8355-7ef03ee54be3"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1941"
source_hash: "81db3577f7fb2aa7852a7f087c9e08f88ed563a0146371124fd257f6e1207737"
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 1941 (2019) — Driving while intoxicated or operating watercraft while intoxicated; maiming, etc., of another.

Increases from a Class 6 felony to a Class 4 felony the punishment for a person who, as a result of driving while intoxicated or operating a watercraft or motorboat while intoxicated in a manner so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show reckless disregard for human life, unintentionally causes the serious bodily injury, as defined in the bill, of another person resulting in permanent and significant physical impairment. The bill creates a Class 6 felony for such driving or operation that unintentionally causes the serious bodily injury, as defined in the bill, of another person.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0465)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0465)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1941ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1941ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102606D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1941)
4. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1941ASE)
5. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 19106787D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1941S1)

## Votes

- Reported from Finance with amendment — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on substitute with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate substitute with amendment rejected by House 19106787D-S1 — **1–99** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Conference report agreed to by House — **96–3** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House — **94–3** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **17–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Robert B. Bell — primary (person)
- Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102606D `introduction`
- **2019-01-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House (94-Y 3-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Reading of substitute waived
- **2019-02-20** Committee substitute agreed to 19106787D-S1
- **2019-02-20** Reading of amendment waived
- **2019-02-20** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-02-20** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute with amendment HB1941S1
- **2019-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-21** Senate substitute with amendment rejected by House 19106787D-S1 (1-Y 99-N)
- **2019-02-21** Senate requested conference committee
- **2019-02-21** House acceded to request
- **2019-02-21** Conferees appointed by House
- **2019-02-21** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2019-02-23** Amended by conference committee
- **2019-02-23** Conference report agreed to by House (96-Y 3-N)
- **2019-03-07** Enrolled
- **2019-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-03-09** Signed by President
- **2019-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2019
- **2019-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 465 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e2dfa836-4bcf-4748-8355-7ef03ee54be3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).