republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-788.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicle crash reports; open to inspection by towing and recovery operators."
description: "Vehicle crash reports; open to inspection by certain persons; towing and recovery operators. Makes certain vehicle crash reports open for inspection and available to towing and recovery operators that responded to a public safety towing request for the removal of a vehicle involved in such crash for purposes of obtaining registered owner information and insurance information for any such vehicle. The bill prohibits the dissemination of any such crash report received by such a towing and recovery operator to any other party."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 788"
citation: "Virginia HB 788 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Terry L. Austin"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 33
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/83859b43-ed80-4795-b7a3-4ea7b45d2292"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB788"
source_hash: "64c667f6fec1e23141e11e0cbd3bb99a7525996b01225fe0786d7b4c902a0617"
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 788 (2026) — Vehicle crash reports; open to inspection by towing and recovery operators.

Vehicle crash reports; open to inspection by certain persons; towing and recovery operators. Makes certain vehicle crash reports open for inspection and available to towing and recovery operators that responded to a public safety towing request for the removal of a vehicle involved in such crash for purposes of obtaining registered owner information and insurance information for any such vehicle. The bill prohibits the dissemination of any such crash report received by such a towing and recovery operator to any other party.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1085913.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216881.PDF)
3. **Department of Motor Vehicles Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1098047.PDF)
4. **Transportation Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1101731.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1179701.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Transportation with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **97–1** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Transportation — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Terry L. Austin — primary (person)
- Will Davis — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103402D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-22** Assigned HTRAN sub: Department of Motor Vehicles `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-27** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2026-01-29** House committee offered
- **2026-01-29** Reported from Transportation with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-29** Committee substitute printed 26106584D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-01-30** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB788)
- **2026-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-03** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-03** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-04** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 1-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-04** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2026-02-04** Passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-05** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Reported from Transportation (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-23** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-23** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (37-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-23** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-24** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-26** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB788ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB788)
- **2026-02-26** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 220 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0220)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/83859b43-ed80-4795-b7a3-4ea7b45d2292`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).