republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/hb-17.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Military honor guards and veterans service organizations; paramilitary activities, exception."
description: "Military honor guards and veterans service organizations; paramilitary activities; exception. Exempts members of a lawfully recognized military color guard, honor guard, or similar organization, and members of a veterans service organization that is congressionally chartered or officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, when such member is participating in a training or educational exercise, funeral, or public ceremony on behalf of such military color guard, honor guard, or similar organization or veterans service organization, from the crime of unlawful paramilitary activity unless such member engages in such activity with malicious intent. This bill is identical to SB 618."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 17"
citation: "Virginia HB 17 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hyland F. \"Buddy\" Fowler, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-12-23"
last_action: "2022-04-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d36ff773-74d2-41d0-924d-852416e9b303"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB17"
source_hash: "2b2ca9e87952fedaab826a6072b73d84ba3f593115ca649fd4e2cdc96182a5c0"
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 17 (2022) — Military honor guards and veterans service organizations; paramilitary activities, exception.

Military honor guards and veterans service organizations; paramilitary activities; exception. Exempts members of a lawfully recognized military color guard, honor guard, or similar organization, and members of a veterans service organization that is congressionally chartered or officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, when such member is participating in a training or educational exercise, funeral, or public ceremony on behalf of such military color guard, honor guard, or similar organization or veterans service organization, from the crime of unlawful paramilitary activity unless such member engages in such activity with malicious intent. This bill is identical to SB 618.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0038** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0038)
2. **HB17ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB17ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100634D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB17)
4. **Printed as engrossed 22100634D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB17E)

## Votes

- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (10-Y 0-N) — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (18-Y 0-N) — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage #2 (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — primary (person)
- A.C. Cordoza — cosponsor (person)
- Amanda F. Chase — cosponsor (person)
- Bill D. Wiley — cosponsor (person)
- Bryce E. Reeves — cosponsor (person)
- Chris S. Runion — cosponsor (person)
- David A. Reid — cosponsor (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Emily M. Brewer — cosponsor (person)
- Frank M. Ruff, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- G. "John" Avoli — cosponsor (person)
- Jason S. Ballard — cosponsor (person)
- Jeffrey L. Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Karen S. Greenhalgh — cosponsor (person)
- Kim A. Taylor — cosponsor (person)
- Nicholas J. Freitas — cosponsor (person)
- Phillip A. Scott — cosponsor (person)
- Richard H. Stuart — cosponsor (person)
- Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)
- Ronnie R. Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Scott A. Wyatt — cosponsor (person)
- Thomas C. Wright, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-12-23** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100634D `introduction`
- **2021-12-23** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-12** Impact statement from DPB (HB17)
- **2022-01-18** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-19** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-28** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (18-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-01** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-02** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-02-02** Engrossed by House as amended HB17E
- **2022-02-02** Printed as engrossed 22100634D-E
- **2022-02-03** Read third time and passed House Block Vote (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-03** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-03** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2022-02-03** Passed House (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-03** VOTE: Passage #2 (100-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-04** Impact statement from DPB (HB17E)
- **2022-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-04** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-16** Reported from Judiciary (10-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-21** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-23** Enrolled
- **2022-02-23** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-02-23** Signed by President
- **2022-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (HB17ER)
- **2022-03-09** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 9, 2022
- **2022-03-09** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-01** Approved by Governor-Chapter 38 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d36ff773-74d2-41d0-924d-852416e9b303`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).