SB228 • 2026

Localities; liability insurance, certain waiver of sovereign immunity.

<p class=ldtitle>A BILL to amend and reenact § 15.2-1518 of the Code of Virginia, relating to localities; liability insurance; certain waiver of sovereign immunity.</p>

Labor

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Surovell
Last action: 2026-02-12
Official status: Continued
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Localities Can Provide Liability Insurance to Officers and Employees

This bill allows local governments in Virginia to provide liability insurance or self-insurance for their officers, employees, volunteers, and members of boards and commissions, which includes waiving sovereign immunity up to a certain limit.

What This Bill Does

Allows localities to offer liability insurance or self-insurance to cover damages or other expenses from civil actions involving acts or omissions by covered individuals within the scope of their duties.
Specifies that providing such insurance or self-insurance is considered a waiver of sovereign immunity up to the total amount of coverage available.
States that insurers or self-insured entities do not have to defend or pay for damages if an act or omission was outside official duties, malicious, due to gross negligence, or excluded by policy terms.
Limits liability judgments against covered individuals to the combined total of insurance and self-insurance coverage unless based on gross negligence or willful misconduct.

Who It Names or Affects

Local governments in Virginia
Officers, employees, volunteers, and members of boards and commissions working for localities

Terms To Know

Sovereign immunity: A legal principle that protects the government from being sued without its consent.
Self-insurance: When an entity covers its own risks and liabilities instead of buying insurance from another company.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not expand liability beyond what is expressly authorized by law.
It does not create new causes of action that are not already available under state law.

Bill History

2026-02-12 Finance and Appropriations
Continued to 2027 in Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N)
2026-02-12 Finance and Appropriations
Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations
2026-02-06 Courts of Justice
Committee substitute printed 26106267D-S1
2026-02-04 Courts of Justice
Failed to report from Courts of Justice with substitute
2026-02-04 Courts of Justice
Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (6-Y 5-N 3-A)
2026-02-04 Courts of Justice
Senate committee offered
2026-01-21 Senate
Fiscal Impact statement From CLG (1/21/2026 3:35 pm)
2026-01-19 Local Government
Rereferred from Local Government to Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N)
2026-01-10 Senate
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101500D
2026-01-10 Local Government
Referred to Committee on Local Government

Official Summary Text

Localities; liability insurance; certain waiver of sovereign immunity.
Provides that a locality or political subdivision may provide liability insurance, including self-insurance, to cover damages or other expenses in certain civil actions arising out of an act or omission of certain officers, employees, board or commission members, or volunteers while such person is acting within the scope of his official duties. The bill provides that the provision of such liability insurance or self-insurance shall constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity in an amount not to exceed the combined total of any self-insurance coverage, insurance coverage under a group self-insurance pool, or any coverage pursuant to a policy purchased from an insurance company, including any excess or reserve coverage. The bill also provides that the insurer or self-insured shall not have a duty to defend or indemnify any covered person in cases where the act or omission took place outside the scope of such covered person's employment or official duties, where such act or omission was done maliciously or occurred as a result of gross negligence or willful misconduct, or is otherwise excluded by the terms of the policy.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SENATE BILL NO. 228

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice

on February 4, 2026)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Surovell)

A BILL to amend and reenact §
15.2-1518
of the Code of Virginia, relating to localities; liability insurance; certain waiver of sovereign immunity.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §
15.2-1518
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§
15.2-1518
. Liability insurance for officers, employees, and volunteers of local government and members of its boards and commissions and constitutional officers.

A.
Any locality and any political subdivision thereof may provide liability insurance or self-insurance for
its fire department operational medical director, police department operational medical director, operational medical director, physician course director for any licensed emergency medical services agency or emergency medical services training program located therein endorsed by the Office of Emergency Medical Services and for its

(i) itself; (ii)
any
officers, employees
,

agents,
and volunteers
, including
of such locality or political su
bdivision
; (iii)
any commission or board, and employees and members thereof, of
such locality or political subdivision
;

(iv)
any authority created or controlled by the local governing body
, or
of such locality or political subdivision
; (v)
any local agency or public service corporation owned, operated
,
or controlled by such local governing body and
employees and members thereof; or (vi)
any
constitutional officers and their employees
employed by such locality or political subdivision
.

B.
The insurance or self-insurance may cover the costs and expenses incident to liability, including those for settlement, suit
,
defense
, or satisfaction of judgment
arising from the conduct

for any act or omission
of
such

any persons or entities described in subsection A or

operational medical directors, physician course directors, officers, employees, members
,
or volunteers in the discharge of their official duties
that (i) results in a claim for damages for death, personal injury, or property damage; (ii) results in a claim of a civil rights violation or other constitutional tort claim; or (iii) arises from the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle owned, leased, or operated by the locality or political subdivision
.

C.
No
such
locality or political subdivision shall have a duty to defend or indemnify acts or omissions that (i) occur outside the scope of employment or official duties
,
(ii) were done maliciously
,
or (iii) are otherwise excluded by the terms of the
insurance
policy.

D.
The provision of
liability
insurance or self-i
nsurance by any locality or political subdivision pursuant to this section shall
be deemed a waiver of sovereign immunity
, governmental immunity, and derivative sovereign immunity

and

any person or entity described in subsection A
may be liable for damages in an amount not to exceed the combined total of any self-insurance coverage,
insurance coverage under a
group self-insurance pool
, or
any insurance coverage
pursuant to a
policy
purchased
by the locality from

an insurance company
, including any excess or reserve coverage.

No
judgment or award of damages
shall be entered against
such
person or entity described in subsection A
in excess of
such combined total
coverage

unless the judgment is based on
conduct that constitutes
gross negligence or willful
or
wanton misconduct
.

E.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to
(i)
expand the liability of any
locality or political subdivision
beyond what is expressly
authorized
; (ii)
create a cause of action not otherwise available under state law
; or (iii) affect any rights or obligations under the Virginia Tort Claims Act
(§

8.01-195.1

et seq.).

F.
For the purposes of this section, "physician course director"
or "PCD"
means an EMS physician who is responsible for the clinical aspects of emergency medical care training programs, including the clinical and field actions of enrolled students.