Data Files
The Legislative Information System provides free access to Data Files. Data can be manually downloaded in CSV format (Comma Separated Values - a text file that stores data in a table format) by simply clicking on the desired file name; or you may use the specified URL to automatically download files via an application that you have created.
The CSV files available for download are:
- Bills.csv
- CommitteeMembers.csv
- Committees.csv
- Docket.csv
- Amendments.csv
- FiscalImpactStatements.csv
- Members.csv
- Section.csv
- Sponsors.csv
- SubCommitteeMembers.csv
- Subdocket.csv
- Summaries.csv
- Vote.csv
- VoteStatements.csv
All of these files are updated once an hour during Session. There is also a History.csv file that is updated once a day, overnight.
Automatically download data files using Azure® Blob Storage:
Use the following URL: https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/lisfiles/, followed by the Session Year, Session Type, followed by the name of the CSV file you wish to automatically download.
For example, if you wish to automatically download the Bills.CSV file for the 2025 Regular Session, use the link https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/lisfiles/20251/BILLS.CSV. In this example, 2025 represents the Session Year, 1 represents the Regular Session, and BILLS.CSV represents the name of the file. Use 2 for a Special Session, and use 3 for a second Special Session.
If you are also interested in getting the data in a JSON format, please check our Postman® Collection and our Swagger™ Public APIs documentation. To register for your own LIS API key, complete the LIS API Key Registration.
Example of a simple JSON Get for the 2024 Regular Session Bills.CSV using the Postman® Collection. To initiate the download, click the Save and Download icon located in the upper right-hand corner. Rename the file as needed.
Manually download data files
Access the link to Data Files from the LIS Home page, then select the file you wish to download.
The History.csv file contains one row for each history "action" related to a given bill, and is updated once a day, overnight.
History.csv includes the following information:
| CSV Column Name | Description of Contents |
|---|---|
| 1. Bill_id | Bill number that has been assigned by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office for a House Bill (HB), House Joint Resolution (HJ), or House Resolution (HR); or by the Senate of Virginia for a Senate Bill (SB), Senate Joint Resolution (SJ), or Senate Resolution (SR). |
| 2. History_date | Date of each action taken on the legislation. |
| 3.History_description | Description of the action that was taken on each date -- there may be multiple actions taken on the same day. |
| 4. History_refid | Displays the vote ID number for that particular action. If no vote was taken for an action, the column will be blank. For example, History_refid column displays the ID of H14V0011. The History_description reflects H Reported from Labor and Commerce (12-Y 10-N). If you access the Vote.csv file, you can cross-reference the History_refid ID number located in the first column (Column A), and the Patron_id - Identification number (ID) assigned to each legislator - will be displayed and will display in the adjoining column to the right Y = Yea and N = Nay, which indicates how the member voted. |
The most requested CSV data file is Bills.csv, which includes data for 41 different fields, and is updated once an hour during Session. A description of the field names for Bills.csv is provided below. The CSV Column Name matches the CSV Column that will display in the text file that is generated, e.g., CSV Column Name will display in Column A, and the Corresponds to CSV Column includes the CSV Column that correlates to other CSV Column Names/Columns.
Bills.csv includes the following information:
| CSV Column Name | Description of Contents |
|---|---|
| 1. Bill_id | Bill number that has been assigned by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office for a House Bill (HB), House Joint Resolution (HJ), or House Resolution (HR); or by the Senate of Virginia for a Senate Bill (SB), Senate Joint Resolution (SJ), or Senate Resolution (SR). |
| 2. Bill_description | Minimal description of the Title of the Bill or Resolution. |
| 3. Patron_id | Identification number (ID) assigned to each legislator. To determine which ID has been assigned to which legislator, refer to column D - Patron Name. |
| 4. Patron_name | Name of primary (Chief Patron) legislator that introduced the legislation. |
| 5. Last_house_committee_id | Identification number (ID) assigned to the last House Standing Committee to which the legislation was referred. To determine which ID has been assigned to which House Committee, refer to the Standing Committees page on LIS - https://lis.virginia.gov/241/com/COM.HTM - select a House Committee name, then refer to the last item in the URL, e.g., for House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, the URL is https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+com+H1, and the last item is H1 -- H1 is the House Committee ID. |
| 6. Last_house_action | Last action taken by the last House Committee to which the legislation was referred. |
| 7. Last_house_action_date | Date of the last action taken by the last House Committee to which the legislation was referred. |
| 8. Last_senate_committee_id | Identification number (ID) assigned to the last Senate Standing Committee to which the legislation was referred. To determine which ID has been assigned to which Senate Committee, refer to the Standing Committees page on LIS - https://lis.virginia.gov/241/com/COM.HTM - select a Senate Committee name, then refer to the last item in the URL, e.g., for Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the URL is https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+com+S1, and the last item is S1 -- S1 is the Senate Committee ID. |
| 9. Last_senate_action | Last action taken by the last Senate Committee to which the legislation was referred. |
| 10. Last_senate_action_date | Date of the last action taken by the last Senate Committee to which the legislation was referred. |
| 11. Last_conference_action | Legislation for which a Conference Committee has been requested will be assigned Conferees by the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia. If a Conference Report is reported from the Conference Committee, the action will be "Amended by conference committee." |
| 12.Last_conference_action_dateril | Date of the last action taken by the Conference Committee. If legislation is referred to a Conference Committee and no Conference Report is reported, there will be no action date. The respective body from which the bill was introduced will post "No further action taken" and "Failed to pass in House" or "Failed to pass in Senate." |
| 13. Last_governor_action | Last action taken by the Governor on the legislation. |
| 14. Last_governor_action_date | Date of last action taken by the Governor. |
| 15. Emergency | If legislation has an Emergency Clause -- meaning it becomes effective the date the Governor signs the legislation, this entry will be marked either "N" - which means No, it does not have an Emergency Clause; or it will be marked "Y" - which means it does have an Emergency Clause. |
| 16. Passed_house | If legislation was agreed to/passed the House of Delegates, this entry will be marked "Y" - which means Yes, it passed the House of Delegates. If the legislation was not agreed to/failed to pass the House of Delegates, this entry will be marked "N" - which means No, it did not pass the House of Delegates. |
| 17. Passed_senate | If legislation was agreed to/passed the Senate of Virginia, this entry will be marked "Y" - which means Yes, it passed the Senate of Virginia. If the legislation was not agreed to/failed to pass the Senate of Virginia, this entry will be marked "N" - which means No, it did not pass the Senate of Virginia. |
| 18. Passed | Legislation passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia. This entry will be marked "Y" - which means Yes, it passed both bodies, or will be marked "N" - which means No, it did not pass both bodies. Commending and Memorial Resolutions designated HR or SR, are not taken up by the other body, so the Passed House column will reflect "N" for SRs, and the Passed Senate column will reflect "N" for HRs. |
| 19. Failed | Legislation failed to pass one or both of the bodies. The House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia may have passed different versions of the legislation but both bodies must pass the identical version of the bill. If they do not agree to pass the same version of the legislation, it will be marked "Y" - which means that the legislation failed to pass the General Assembly. |
| 20. Carried_over | Legislation that a Committee votes to continue to the next Regular Session of the General Assembly. Entries will be marked "Y" - which means Yes, the legislation was continued to the next Regular Session of the General Assembly; or "N" - which means No, the legislation was not carried over to the next Regular Session. |
| 21. Approved | Legislation that has been approved by the General Assembly and by the Governor. |
| 22. Vetoed | Legislation that has been vetoed by the Governor. |
| 23. Full_text_doc1 | Version designation of the legislation as Introduced, i.e., HB/HJ/HR/SB/SJ/SR followed by the number assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office or the Senate of Virginia Clerk's Office. Budget Bills will be designated by the Session Year, followed by the letter "A" - which represents the first Budget Bill to be Introduced for that Session Year, or will be followed by the number "1" - which represents the second Budget Bill to be Introduced for that Session Year. |
| 24. Full_text_date1 | Date the Introduced version of the legislation is released to the public. |
| 25. Full_text_doc2 | Version designation of the legislation that is next released by the body, i.e., Substitute bills reported from a Committee are designated as HB/HJ/HR/SB/SJ/SR followed by the number assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office or the Senate of Virginia Clerk's Office, followed by an "H" for House Substitutes or an "S" for Senate Substitutes, followed by the sequential number of Substitutes that have been released, e.g., a Substitute for HB1 reported from a House Committee would be HB1H1, and the same HB1 reported from a Senate Committee would be HB1S1. If additional Substitutes are released by the same body, they would be numbered HB1H2, HB1S2, etc. If no changes are made to the legislation and it passes both bodies, the next version will be designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letters "ER" -- which means Enrolled. |
| 26. Full_text_date2 | Date the next version of the legislation is released. |
| 27. Full_text_doc3 | Version designation of the legislation that is next released by the body, i.e., Substitute bills reported from a Committee are designated as HB/HJ/HR/SB/SJ/SR followed by the number assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office or the Senate of Virginia Clerk's Office, followed by an "H" for House Substitutes or an "S" for Senate Substitutes, followed by the sequential number of Substitutes that have been released, e.g., a Substitute for HB1 reported from a House Committee would be HB1H1, and the same HB1 reported from a Senate Committee would be HB1S1. If additional Substitutes are released by the same body, they would be numbered HB1H2, HB1S2, etc. If no changes are made to the legislation and it passes both bodies, the version will be designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letters "ER" -- which means Enrolled. If the Governor recommends Amendments to the legislation, which are agreed to by both bodies, the legislation becomes Reenrolled, and the version is designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letter "ER2." If the Enrolled version of the bill is approved by the Governor, the Chapter version will be the next version, designated as "CHAP" followed by the number of the Acts of Assembly assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Keeper of the Rolls. |
| 28. Full_text_date3 | Date the next version of the legislation is released. |
| 29. Full_text_doc4 | Version designation of the legislation that is next released by the body, i.e., Substitute bills reported from a Committee are designated as HB/HJ/HR/SB/SJ/SR followed by the number assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office or the Senate of Virginia Clerk's Office, followed by an "H" for House Substitutes or an "S" for Senate Substitutes, followed by the sequential number of Substitutes that have been released, e.g., a Substitute for HB1 reported from a House Committee would be HB1H1, and the same HB1 reported from a Senate Committee would be HB1S1. If additional Substitutes are released by the same body, they would be numbered HB1H2, HB1S2, etc. If no changes are made to the legislation and it passes both bodies, the version will be designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letters "ER" -- which means Enrolled. If the Governor recommends Amendments to the legislation, which are agreed to by both bodies, the legislation becomes Reenrolled, and the version is designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letter "ER2." If the Enrolled version of the bill is approved by the Governor, the Chapter version will be the next version, designated as "CHAP" followed by the number of the Acts of Assembly assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Keeper of the Rolls. |
| 30. Full_text_date4 | Date the next version of the legislation is released. |
| 31. Full_text_doc5 | Version designation of the legislation that is next released by the body, i.e., Substitute bills reported from a Committee are designated as HB/HJ/HR/SB/SJ/SR followed by the number assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office or the Senate of Virginia Clerk's Office, followed by an "H" for House Substitutes or an "S" for Senate Substitutes, followed by the sequential number of Substitutes that have been released, e.g., a Substitute for HB1 reported from a House Committee would be HB1H1, and the same HB1 reported from a Senate Committee would be HB1S1. If additional Substitutes are released by the same body, they would be numbered HB1H2, HB1S2, etc. If no changes are made to the legislation and it passes both bodies, the version will be designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letters "ER" -- which means Enrolled. If the Governor recommends Amendments to the legislation, which are agreed to by both bodies, the legislation becomes Reenrolled, and the version is designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letter "ER2." If the Enrolled version of the bill is approved by the Governor, the Chapter version will be the next version, designated as "CHAP" followed by the number of the Acts of Assembly assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Keeper of the Rolls. |
| 32. Full_text_date5 | Date the next version of the legislation is released. |
| 33. Full_text_doc6 | Version designation of the legislation that is next released by the body, i.e., Substitute bills reported from a Committee are designated as HB/HJ/HR/SB/SJ/SR followed by the number assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Clerk's Office or the Senate of Virginia Clerk's Office, followed by an "H" for House Substitutes or an "S" for Senate Substitutes, followed by the sequential number of Substitutes that have been released, e.g., a Substitute for HB1 reported from a House Committee would be HB1H1, and the same HB1 reported from a Senate Committee would be HB1S1. If additional Substitutes are released by the same body, they would be numbered HB1H2, HB1S2, etc. If no changes are made to the legislation and it passes both bodies, the version will be designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letters "ER" -- which means Enrolled. If the Governor recommends Amendments to the legislation, which are agreed to by both bodies, the legislation becomes Reenrolled, and the version is designated by the original Bill ID followed by the letter "ER2." If the Enrolled version of the bill is approved by the Governor, the Chapter version will be the next version, designated as "CHAP" followed by the number of the Acts of Assembly assigned to the legislation by the House of Delegates Keeper of the Rolls. |
| 34. Full_text_date6 | Date the next version of the legislation is released. |
| 35. Last_house_actid | Identification (ID) code assigned to the last action taken by the House of Delegates. |
| 36. Last_senate_actid | Identification (ID) code assigned to the last action taken by the Senate of Virginia. |
| 37. Last_conference_act | Identification (ID) code assigned to the last Conference Committee action taken. |
| 38. Last_governor_actid | Identification (ID) code assigned to the last Governor's action. |
| 39. Chapter_id | Acts of Assembly Chapter assigned by the House of Delegates Keeper of the Rolls. |
| 40. Introduction_date | Date the legislation was Introduced in the House of Delegates or the Senate of Virginia. |
| 41. Last_actid | Identification (ID) code assigned to the last action taken by either the House of Delegates or the Senate of Virginia. |
| CSV Column | Corresponds to CSV Column |
|---|---|
| A | N/A |
| B | N/A |
| C | D - Patron Name |
| D | C - Patron ID |
| E | F - Last House Action, G - Last House Action Date |
| F | E - Last House Committee ID, G -Last House Action Date |
| G | E - Last House Committee ID, F - Last House Action |
| H | I - Last Senate Action, J - Last Senate Action Date |
| I | H - Last Senate Committee ID, J -Last Senate Action Date |
| J | H - Last House Committee ID, I - Last House Action |
| K | L - Last Conference Action Date |
| L | K - Last Conference Action |
| M | N - Last Governor Action Date, AL - Last Governor Action ID |
| N | M - Last Governor Action, AL - Last Governor Action ID |
| O | N/A |
| P | N/A |
| Q | N/A |
| R | N/A |
| S | N/A |
| Y | Potentially: F - Last House Action, G - Last House Action Date, I - Last Senate Action - J - Last Senate Action Date |
| U | N/A |
| V | M - Last Governor Action, N - Last Governor Action Date, AL - Last Governor Action ID |
| W | A - Bill ID, X - Full Text Date1 |
| X | A - Bill ID, W - Full Text Doc1 |
| Y | Z - Full Text Date2 |
| Z | Y - Full Text Doc2 |
| AA | AB - Full Text Date3 |
| AB | AA - Full Text Doc3 |
| AC | AD - Full Text Date4 |
| AD | AC - Full Text Doc4 |
| AE | AF - Full Text Date5 |
| AF | AE - Full Text Doc5 |
| AG | AH - Full Text Date6 |
| AH | AG - Full Text Doc6 |
| AI | AO - Last Action ID |
| AJ | AO - Last Action ID |
| AK | K - Last Conference Action, L - Last Conference Action Date |
| AL | M - Last Governor Action, N - Last Governor Action Date |
| AM | Potentially: M - Last Governor Action, or AA - Full Text Doc3, AC - Full Text Doc4, AE - Full Text Doc5 or AG - Full Text Doc6 |
| AN | A - Bill ID |
| AO | AI - Last House Action ID, AJ - Last Senate Action ID |
