2026 SESSION

INTRODUCED

26101678D

HOUSE BILL NO. 1500

Offered January 23, 2026

A BILL to amend and reenact § 8.01-301 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 8.01-301.1, relating to civil actions; service of subpoena for certain electronic records.

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Patron—Schmidt

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Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 8.01-301 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 8.01-301.1 as follows:

§ 8.01-301. How process served on foreign stock or nonstock corporations and foreign limited liability companies generally.

Subject to § 8.01-286.1, service of process on a foreign stock or nonstock corporation or a foreign limited liability company may be effected in the following manner:

1. By personal service on any officer or director or the registered agent of a foreign stock or nonstock corporation that is authorized to do business in the Commonwealth, by personal service on any agent of any such foreign corporation transacting business in the Commonwealth without such authorization, wherever any such officer, director, or agents be found within the Commonwealth, and by personal service on the registered agent of a foreign limited liability company that is registered to do business in the Commonwealth;

2. By substituted service on (i) a foreign stock or nonstock corporation in accordance with §§ 13.1-766 and 13.1-928, respectively, and on a foreign limited liability company in accordance with § 13.1-1018, if any such corporation or limited liability company is authorized or registered to transact business or affairs within the Commonwealth, and (ii) a foreign stock or nonstock corporation in accordance with subsection F of § 13.1-758 and subsection E of § 13.1-920, respectively, and on a foreign limited liability company in accordance with subsection E of § 13.1-1057, if any such corporation or limited liability company is not authorized or registered to transact business within the Commonwealth;

3. By substituted service on a foreign stock or nonstock corporation or foreign limited liability company in accordance with § 8.01-329, or by service in accordance with § 8.01-320, where jurisdiction is authorized under § 8.01-328.1, regardless of whether any such foreign corporation or foreign limited liability company is authorized or registered to transact business within the Commonwealth; or

4. By order of publication in accordance with §§ 8.01-316 and 8.01-317 where jurisdiction in rem or quasi in rem is authorized, regardless of whether the foreign stock or nonstock corporation or foreign limited liability company so served is authorized or registered to transact business within the Commonwealth.

This section does not prescribe the only means, or necessarily the required means, of serving a foreign stock or nonstock corporation or foreign limited liability company.

For the purposes of responding to a subpoena served in the manner prescribed by this section, a foreign corporation transacting business in the Commonwealth that has a registered agent in the Commonwealth shall be deemed to have consented to service and shall respond to such subpoena in a manner consistent with the laws of the Commonwealth and the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

§ 8.01-301.1. Subpoena for production of electronic records, etc., from nonparty commercial enterprise.

In addition to the methods by which service of process may be effected pursuant to § 8.01-301, when a party in a civil action issues a subpoena for electronic records, electronically stored information, or other documents or records that are stored outside of the Commonwealth by a nonparty commercial enterprise, whether a domestic corporation or foreign corporation, that is transacting or has transacted any business in the Commonwealth, such subpoena may be served on such commercial enterprise within or outside of the Commonwealth by hand, certified mail, commercial delivery service, facsimile, or electronic means.