# Virginia HB160: FOIA; officers, employees, or members of a public body, alleged willful and knowing violations.

Virginia HB160, FOIA; officers, employees, or members of a public body, alleged willful and knowing violations., is a 2027 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Marcus B. Simon (Democratic); status in committee, last action 2026-07-21 (Continued from last session) (as of 2026-10-11).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB160-2027
- As of: 2026-10-11
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: Virginia HB160
- State: Virginia
- Session: 2027 Regular Session
- Title: FOIA; officers, employees, or members of a public body, alleged willful and knowing violations.
- Status: in committee
- Chamber: House
- Introduced: 2026-01-06
- Last action: 2026-07-21, Continued from last session
- Sponsor: Marcus B. Simon (Democratic)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Subjects: Procurement/Open Government
- Touches household money: no
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 0

## Summary

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; officers, employees, or members of a public body; alleged willful and knowing violations; mitigating factors to be considered. Specifies that civil penalties may only be imposed on officers, employees, or members of a public body in actions brought against them in their individual capacity for certain violations of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The bill further requires a court, when determining whether an officer, an employee, or a member of a public body has committed certain violations of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act willfully and knowingly, to consider certain mitigating factors, including good faith reliance on (i) opinions of the Attorney General; (ii) court cases substantially supporting such officer's, employee's, or member's actions; (iii) advisory opinions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council; and (iv) advice of counsel for the public body, as evidence that such officer, employee, or member did not willfully and knowingly commit such violation. Current law provides any officer, employee, or member of a public body the right to introduce at any proceeding regarding such willful and knowing violation a copy of a relevant advisory opinion issued by the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

## Bill overview

No economic impacts identified for this bill.

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: Marcus B. Simon (Democratic), House

## Actions (6)

- 2026-07-21: Continued from last session (House)
- 2026-01-22: Continued to 2027 in General Laws (Voice Vote) (House)
- 2026-01-20: Subcommittee recommends continuing to 2028 (Voice Vote) (House)
- 2026-01-19: Assigned HGL sub: Procurement/Open Government (House)
- 2026-01-06: Referred to Committee on General Laws (House)
- 2026-01-06: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100416D (House)

## Bill text

- Introduced, 2026-01-06: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231393.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231392.PDF)

## Related bills

- SB844: Licensed clinical psychologists; prescriptive authority; report. (in committee)
- HB1535: Individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities; admissibility of statements. (introduced)
- HB1534: School service providers; deletion of student and family personal information. (introduced)
- SB843: Data centers; state permitting, local approval, moratorium, sunset. (in committee)
- SB842: High school student athletes; eligibility, enrollment. (in committee)
- SB840: Corrections, Director of the Department of; placement of inmates, Red Onion State Prison. (in committee)

## Sources
- [Introduced (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231393.HTML)
- [Introduced (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231392.PDF)

## Related
- [SB844: Licensed clinical psychologists; prescriptive authority; report.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB844-2027)
- [HB1535: Individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities; admissibility of s…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1535-2027)
- [HB1534: School service providers; deletion of student and family personal information.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1534-2027)
- [SB843: Data centers; state permitting, local approval, moratorium, sunset.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB843-2027)
- [SB842: High school student athletes; eligibility, enrollment.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB842-2027)
- [SB840: Corrections, Director of the Department of; placement of inmates, Red Onion Sta…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB840-2027)
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Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB160-2027 (as of 2026-10-11).