HB 1432 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Marijuana or marijuana products; underage possession, consequences, procedures.

Summary
Underage consumption or possession of alcoholic beverage or marijuana or marijuana products; consequences; procedures. Reduces the penalties for underage consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages or marijuana or marijuana products to a written warning for a first violation, a written warning and the provision of informational materials about how to access community services for a second violation, and a write-up and an optional referral for accessing community services for a third or subsequent violation. Under current law, underage consumption, purchase, or possession of alcoholic beverages is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor with a period of license suspension and an option for a deferred dismissal in certain circumstances. The current penalties for underage consumption or possession of marijuana or marijuana products is a civil penalty of $25 and an order to enter a substance abuse treatment or education program. The bill also provides that such underage persons are not capable of giving lawful consent to a search and that the unconcealed possession of an alcoholic beverage or marijuana or marijuana products shall not constitute probable cause to initiate a search of a person or that person's personal property to determine any further violations of law. The bill specifies that such underage persons shall not be subject to arrest or otherwise detained or taken into custody by a law-enforcement officer and that a law-enforcement officer's body-worn camera system shall be activated during any encounter involving an underage person suspected to be in violation of such provisions. The bill also puts limits on the dissemination and retention of any law-enforcement records related to violations of such provisions.
Bill status failed 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 22, 2026 Last action Feb 17, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Criminal Subcommittee Substitute Delegate Mehta Substitute · 7 edits
MODERATE
The bill was amended to remove all provisions related to underage alcohol, significantly narrowing its scope to focus exclusively on marijuana. The text was also cleaned up to fix numerous grammatical errors and formatting inconsistencies found in the original version.
Scope change
The bill's scope was drastically reduced by removing all sections and penalties related to underage alcohol consumption and possession, leaving only provisions concerning marijuana.
SCOPE

All references to underage alcohol consumption, possession, and related penalties were deleted from the bill.

Sections governing fixed fees for alcohol-related offenses in district and circuit courts were removed.

Provisions regarding the denial of driving privileges for alcohol-related offenses by juveniles were removed.

Sections allowing immunity from arrest or prosecution for seeking help during an alcohol overdose were removed.

The list of amended code sections was updated to remove all alcohol-related statutes, retaining only those related to marijuana.

TECHNICAL

Numerous grammatical errors, such as 'younger than 21 years of age' and 'person person', were corrected throughout the text.

The bill header was updated to reflect that this is a 'Floor Amendment' proposed by Delegate Mehta on February 16, 2026.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
18
Key actions
2
Committee
6
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
Rereferred to Courts of Justice
lower
Feb 11, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (13-Y 9-N)
lower
Feb 9, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Feb 7, 2026
Committee
Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Committee
Referred from General Laws and referred to Courts of Justice (Voice Vote)
lower
Jan 22, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on General Laws
lower
Jan 22, 2026
Introduced
Presented and ordered printed 26103239D
lower
0 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.