HB 629 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Sex offenses, certain; sexual extortion, unlawful creation of image of another, penalties.

Summary
Certain sex offenses; sexual extortion; unlawful creation of image of another; penalties. Provides that any person who, with the intent to cause the complaining witness to engage in certain sexual acts, maliciously (i) threatens in writing, including electronically, (a) to disseminate, sell, or publish a videographic or still image, created by any means whatsoever, or (b) to not delete, remove, or take back a previously disseminated, sold, or published videographic or still image, created by any means whatsoever, that depicts the complaining witness or such complaining witness's family or household member, as defined in relevant law, as totally nude or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast or (ii) threatens eviction, loss of housing, property damage, or any financial loss, but such complaining witness does not thereby engage in such sexual acts is guilty of attempted sexual extortion and shall be punished as prescribed by relevant law.The bill also adds to the existing offense of unlawfully creating an image of another a prohibition on any person knowingly and intentionally creating any videographic or still image by any means whatsoever of any nonconsenting person if that person is not exposed to show the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast but such videographic or still image is obscene, as defined in relevant law, when such nonconsenting person is in a restroom, dressing room, locker room, hotel room, motel room, tanning bed, tanning booth, bedroom, or other location. A violation of such prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor unless such nonconsenting person is younger than the age of 18, in which case it is elevated to a Class 6 felony.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Mar 2026
Signed into Law
Apr 2026
Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Signed Apr 10, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

Criminal Subcommittee Substitute Chaptered · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was finalized into law (Chapter 539) and approved on April 10, 2026. The most significant substantive change involves the funding section, which now states that the necessary appropriation for both adult and juvenile justice costs cannot be determined, replacing previous placeholder amounts. Additionally, minor formatting corrections were applied throughout the text to fix typos and standardize the use of section symbols.
Scope change
The bill's scope and legal applicability remain unchanged; the text now reflects the final enacted version of the law.
FISCAL

The estimated appropriation for state adult correctional facilities and the Department of Juvenile Justice was changed from specific placeholder amounts to 'cannot be determined'.

TECHNICAL

Typos such as 'is is' and 'years of age is' were removed, and section symbols were standardized to the proper format.

TIMELINE

The document header was updated to reflect the final chapter number and the specific approval date of April 10, 2026.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 5, 2026 · House of Delegates Feb 17, 2026

How they voted

380
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 39
Mar 5, 2026
D Democratic20
19 Yea 1
95% Yea
R Republican19
19 Yea
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
36
Key actions
12
Committee
7
Apr 10, 2026
Signed into law
Approved by Governor-Chapter 539 (effective 7/1/2026)
executive
Mar 14, 2026
Upper · Passed
Signed by President
upper
Mar 14, 2026
Lower · Passed
Signed by Speaker
lower
Mar 14, 2026
Lower · Passed
Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB629ER)
lower
Mar 9, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
upper
Mar 6, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
upper
Mar 5, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
upper
Mar 4, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N)
upper
Feb 25, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N)
upper
Feb 18, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Lower · Passed
Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N 0-A)
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 0-N)
lower
Feb 11, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Committee
Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal
lower
Jan 13, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
lower
1 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors