republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/hb-894.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Freedom of Information Act; electronic meetings."
description: "Virginia Freedom of Information Act; electronic meetings. Amends the number of all-virtual public meetings that public bodies, with certain exceptions, may convene in a calendar year to no more than two times per calendar year or 50 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater. Current law limits the number of all-virtual public meetings to no more than two times per calendar year or 25 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater. The bill also provides that with respect to all-virtual public meetings, when audio-visual technology is available, a member of a public body shall, for purposes of a quorum, be considered absent from any portion of the meeting during which visual communication with the member is voluntarily disconnected or otherwise fails or during which audio communication involuntarily fails. This bill is identical to SB 734. "
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 894"
citation: "Virginia HB 894 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/70d1b976-34b0-40d0-b34e-221eee6ee8ee"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB894"
source_hash: "f30774c8ce912baa855b5ddcce4f7436ac093f96430c15c6302adbae0b808588"
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 894 (2024) — Virginia Freedom of Information Act; electronic meetings.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; electronic meetings. Amends the number of all-virtual public meetings that public bodies, with certain exceptions, may convene in a calendar year to no more than two times per calendar year or 50 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater. Current law limits the number of all-virtual public meetings to no more than two times per calendar year or 25 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater. The bill also provides that with respect to all-virtual public meetings, when audio-visual technology is available, a member of a public body shall, for purposes of a quorum, be considered absent from any portion of the meeting during which visual communication with the member is voluntarily disconnected or otherwise fails or during which audio communication involuntarily fails. This bill is identical to SB 734. 

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0056** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0056)
2. **HB894ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB894ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100596D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB894)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N 1-A) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (32-Y 6-N) — **32–6** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (32-Y 7-N) — **32–7** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (74-Y 26-N) — **73–26** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker — primary (person)
- Adele Y. McClure — cosponsor (person)
- Amy J. Laufer — cosponsor (person)
- Barbara A. Favola — cosponsor (person)
- Briana D. Sewell — cosponsor (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Candi Mundon King — cosponsor (person)
- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer B. Boysko — cosponsor (person)
- Joshua G. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Michelle Lopes Maldonado — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100596D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB894)
- **2024-01-22** Assigned GL sub: Procurement/Open Government `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2024-01-25** Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-01-31** Read third time and passed House (74-Y 26-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-01-31** VOTE: Passage (74-Y 26-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2024-02-01** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-14** Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-19** Passed Senate (32-Y 6-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-19** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-19** Passed Senate (32-Y 7-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-22** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-22** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB894ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (HB894ER)
- **2024-02-22** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-02-25** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-01** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 1, 2024 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 56 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0056)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/70d1b976-34b0-40d0-b34e-221eee6ee8ee`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).