5a13be122b
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
118 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown
118 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "Handheld personal communications devices; holding devices while driving a motor vehicle, penalty."
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description: "Holding handheld personal communications devices whiledriving a motor vehicle. Prohibits any person from holding a handheldpersonal communications device while driving a motor vehicle. Current lawprohibits (i) the reading of any email or text message and manually enteringletters or text in such a device as a means of communicating and (ii) holding apersonal communications device while driving in a work zone. The bill expandsthe exemptions to include handheld personal communications devices that arebeing held and used (a) as an amateur radio or a citizens band radio or (b) forofficial Department of Transportation or traffic incident management services.The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021. This billincorporates HB 377, HB 387, HB 512, and HB 1672 and is identical to SB 160."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
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legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
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session: "2020"
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identifier: "HB 874"
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citation: "Virginia HB 874 (2020)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Jeffrey M. Bourne"]
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version_count: 5
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action_count: 41
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vote_count: 9
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first_action: "2020-01-07"
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last_action: "2020-03-10"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eee6bc98-66fb-48d9-9674-470f76cc1f18"
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source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB874"
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source_hash: "f0c7f0d39c0dceef2ea195a22c0b5b44df8cea401d0a010bd83421b0526d3707"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
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---
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# Virginia HB 874 (2020) — Handheld personal communications devices; holding devices while driving a motor vehicle, penalty.
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Holding handheld personal communications devices whiledriving a motor vehicle. Prohibits any person from holding a handheldpersonal communications device while driving a motor vehicle. Current lawprohibits (i) the reading of any email or text message and manually enteringletters or text in such a device as a means of communicating and (ii) holding apersonal communications device while driving in a work zone. The bill expandsthe exemptions to include handheld personal communications devices that arebeing held and used (a) as an amateur radio or a citizens band radio or (b) forofficial Department of Transportation or traffic incident management services.The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021. This billincorporates HB 377, HB 387, HB 512, and HB 1672 and is identical to SB 160.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0250)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0250)
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2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB874ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874ER)
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3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB874H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874H1)
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4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB874)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874)
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5. **Impact statement from DPB (HB874S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB874S1)
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## Votes
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- VOTE: Adoption (71-Y 26-N) — **70–26** (pass) · lower
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- Passed Senate with substitute (30-Y 7-N) — **30–7** (pass) · upper
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- VOTE: Passage (72-Y 24-N) — **71–24** (pass) · lower
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- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
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- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
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- Passed Senate with substitute (29-Y 9-N) — **29–9** (pass) · upper
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- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N 1-A) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from Transportation with substitute (11-Y 4-N) — **11–4** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from Transportation with substitute (19-Y 3-N) — **19–3** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Jeffrey M. Bourne — primary (person)
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- Alex Q. Askew — cosponsor (person)
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- David L. Bulova — cosponsor (person)
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- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
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- Jerrauld C. "Jay" Jones — cosponsor (person)
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- Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
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- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
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- Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)
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- Scott Wyatt — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101920D `introduction`
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- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
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- **2020-01-14** Impact statement from DPB (HB874)
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- **2020-01-15** Assigned Transportation sub: Motor Vehicles `referral-committee`
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- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
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- **2020-01-30** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2020-01-30** Reported from Transportation with substitute (19-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2020-01-30** Committee substitute printed 20106899D-H1 `substitution`
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- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB512 (Bulova)
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- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB387 (Edmunds)
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- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB1672 (Ware)
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- **2020-01-30** Incorporates HB377 (Willett)
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- **2020-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
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- **2020-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
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- **2020-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 20106899D-H1
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- **2020-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB874H1
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- **2020-02-05** Read third time and passed House (72-Y 24-N) `passage, reading-3`
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- **2020-02-05** VOTE: Passage (72-Y 24-N)
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- **2020-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
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- **2020-02-06** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
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- **2020-02-13** Reported from Transportation with substitute (11-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2020-02-13** Committee substitute printed 20108193D-S1 `substitution`
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- **2020-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB874S1)
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- **2020-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
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- **2020-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2020-02-18** Reading of substitute waived
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- **2020-02-18** Committee substitute agreed to 20108193D-S1
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- **2020-02-18** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB874S1
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- **2020-02-18** Passed Senate with substitute (30-Y 7-N) `passage`
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- **2020-02-18** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N 1-A)
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- **2020-02-18** Passed Senate with substitute (29-Y 9-N) `passage`
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- **2020-02-20** Placed on Calendar
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- **2020-02-20** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108193D-S1 (71-Y 26-N)
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- **2020-02-20** VOTE: Adoption (71-Y 26-N)
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- **2020-02-25** Enrolled
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- **2020-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB874ER)
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- **2020-02-25** Signed by Speaker
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- **2020-02-26** Signed by President
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- **2020-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2020
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- **2020-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 10, 2020
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- **2020-03-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 250 (effective 1/1/21) `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/eee6bc98-66fb-48d9-9674-470f76cc1f18`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
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