republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2548.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Felons; restoration of firearms rights, report to State Police."
description: "Creates a method whereby circuit courts shall report to the Department of State Police the issuance of a restoration order that unconditionally authorizes the possession, transportation, or carrying of a firearm to a person (i) who has been convicted of a felony; (ii) adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile 14 years of age or older at the time of the offense of murder, kidnapping, robbery by the threat or presentation of firearms, or rape; or (iii) under the age of 29 who was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile 14 years of age or older at the time of the offense of a delinquent act that would be a felony if committed by an adult. The bill provides that if a court enters an order restoring a felon's right, the order shall contain the felon's name and date of birth and the clerk of the court shall certify and forward the restoration order accompanied by a complete set of the petitioner's fingerprints to the Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE). The bill provides that the Department of State Police, upon receipt of the restoration order, shall enter the felon's name and description in the CCRE so that law-enforcement personnel accessing the CCRE will be aware of the order's existence. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2548"
citation: "Virginia HB 2548 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nick Rush"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-09"
last_action: "2019-03-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3b134891-c1eb-4b1e-ac8c-f85de0441fb8"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2548"
source_hash: "465883dc87f401e898fb38e8ab4292725fe97f7810ee18d0b8b94c9b3504813d"
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 2548 (2019) — Felons; restoration of firearms rights, report to State Police.

Creates a method whereby circuit courts shall report to the Department of State Police the issuance of a restoration order that unconditionally authorizes the possession, transportation, or carrying of a firearm to a person (i) who has been convicted of a felony; (ii) adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile 14 years of age or older at the time of the offense of murder, kidnapping, robbery by the threat or presentation of firearms, or rape; or (iii) under the age of 29 who was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile 14 years of age or older at the time of the offense of a delinquent act that would be a felony if committed by an adult. The bill provides that if a court enters an order restoring a felon's right, the order shall contain the felon's name and date of birth and the clerk of the court shall certify and forward the restoration order accompanied by a complete set of the petitioner's fingerprints to the Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE). The bill provides that the Department of State Police, upon receipt of the restoration order, shall enter the felon's name and description in the CCRE so that law-enforcement personnel accessing the CCRE will be aware of the order's existence. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0203)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0203)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2548AH)
3. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2548)
4. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2548ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2548ER)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101934D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2548)
6. **House: Printed as engrossed 19101934D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2548E)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House — **98–1** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Militia, Police and Public Safety with amendments — **20–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nick Rush — primary (person)
- Mark L. Cole — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101934D `introduction`
- **2019-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-15** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-21** Referred from Courts of Justice by voice vote
- **2019-01-21** Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-22** Assigned MPPS sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-30** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-30** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-01-30** Engrossed by House as amended HB2548E
- **2019-01-30** Printed as engrossed 19101934D-E
- **2019-01-31** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 1-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-01** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-14** Enrolled
- **2019-02-14** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-14** Signed by President
- **2019-02-18** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 18, 2019
- **2019-02-18** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 203 (effective 1/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3b134891-c1eb-4b1e-ac8c-f85de0441fb8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).