republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/hb-451.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Stalking; venue, penalty."
description: "Stalking; venue; penalty. Allows a personto be prosecuted for a stalking charge in the jurisdiction wherethe person at whom the stalking conduct is directed received a communicationfrom the person engaged in the stalking conduct that placed him in reasonable fear of death, criminal sexual assault, or bodily injuryto himself or a family or household member. The bill also providesthat evidence of any such conduct that occurred outside the Commonwealthmay be admissible, if relevant, in any prosecution for stalking. Currently, such evidence is admissible as long as the prosecutionis based upon conduct occurring within the Commonwealth."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 451"
citation: "Virginia HB 451 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 46
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/03fd6999-82cc-4302-8c43-94a017e39018"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB451"
source_hash: "cf27c168a058366a4d22c83db4f065a632ccf22940a88a661d4b993b148c3068"
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 451 (2022) — Stalking; venue, penalty.

Stalking; venue; penalty. Allows a personto be prosecuted for a stalking charge in the jurisdiction wherethe person at whom the stalking conduct is directed received a communicationfrom the person engaged in the stalking conduct that placed him in reasonable fear of death, criminal sexual assault, or bodily injuryto himself or a family or household member. The bill also providesthat evidence of any such conduct that occurred outside the Commonwealthmay be admissible, if relevant, in any prosecution for stalking. Currently, such evidence is admissible as long as the prosecutionis based upon conduct occurring within the Commonwealth.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0276** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0276)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22106970D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB451S1)
3. **HB451ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB451ER)
4. **HB451S2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB451S2)
5. **HB451S3** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB451S3)
6. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103062D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB451)

## Votes

- VOTE: Adoption (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 1-N) — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 0-N) — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker — primary (person)
- Eileen Filler-Corn — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103062D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-12** Impact statement from VCSC (HB451)
- **2022-02-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB451)
- **2022-02-08** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-09** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-11** Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-14** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-02-15** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-15** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-16** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-23** Committee substitute printed 22106970D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-23** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-25** Impact statement from VCSC (HB451S1)
- **2022-02-28** Impact statement from DPB (HB451S1)
- **2022-03-02** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-04** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-07** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-08** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-08** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-09** Floor substitute printed 22107704D-S2 (Morrissey)
- **2022-03-09** Floor substitute printed 22107723D-S3 (Morrissey)
- **2022-03-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-09** Committee substitute rejected 22106970D-S1
- **2022-03-09** Substitute by Senator Morrissey withdrawn 22107704D-S2
- **2022-03-09** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-03-09** Substitute by Senator Morrissey agreed to 22107723D-S3
- **2022-03-09** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute HB451S3
- **2022-03-09** Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-09** Impact statement from VCSC (HB451S3)
- **2022-03-10** Passed by temporarily
- **2022-03-10** Impact statement from DPB (HB451S3)
- **2022-03-10** Senate substitute agreed to by House 22107723D-S3 (100-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-10** VOTE: Adoption (100-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-21** Enrolled
- **2022-03-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB451ER)
- **2022-03-21** Signed by President
- **2022-03-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 276 (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/03fd6999-82cc-4302-8c43-94a017e39018`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).