Political campaign advertisements; synthetic media, penalty.

The bill's title and committee changed from Privileges and Elections to Courts of Justice, indicating a shift in primary focus and committee oversight.

New amendments to venue laws in sections 8.01-261 and 19.2-249.2 were added, establishing preferred court locations for various types of legal actions including administrative appeals, property disputes, and tax collection cases.

The original election media definitions were retained but now exist alongside completely new venue-related provisions that were not present in the previous version.

New venue provisions establish specific court jurisdictions for different types of cases, affecting where legal actions must be filed and how cases are processed.

The document includes numerous formatting changes with line numbers and draft markings that reflect the bill's progression through the legislative process.

The definition of prohibited content changed from 'synthetic media' to 'artificial audio or artificial visual media', which now includes any media depicting a candidate in speech or conduct they did not actually engage in, whether through alteration or artificial generation.

New definitions were added for 'Journalism', 'News organization', and 'Newsperson' to potentially exempt certain media entities from the bill's requirements.

The disclosure statement requirement changed from 'This message contains synthetic media that has been altered from its original source or artificially generated and may present conduct or speech that did not occur' to 'THIS MEDIA DOES NOT REPRESENT A TRUE RECORDING OF THE CANDIDATE.' Visual media must display this statement in at least 33% of the viewing area, and audio media must include a verbal reading lasting at least five seconds.

The penalty for violations was changed from a Class 1 misdemeanor for willful violations to a Class 2 misdemeanor for basic violations, with Class 1 misdemeanor penalties reserved for cases where the disseminator knew or should have known the media was deceptive and intended to injure a candidate or influence election results.

The bill now explicitly exempts content that constitutes satire or parody, and includes provisions that may exempt journalism and news organizations from certain requirements.

The section number changed from 24.2-961 to 24.2-1005.1:1, and the bill title was updated to reflect the new focus on artificial audio or artificial visual media rather than synthetic media.

The bill was reorganized from a single focused section on artificial media to a comprehensive package including venue rules, multiple election code amendments, and new provisions on political campaign advertisements.

New venue provisions were added to § 8.01-261 establishing preferred places of venue for various types of legal actions including administrative appeals, tax collection, and attorney disbarment proceedings.

The original detailed definitions for artificial media, journalism, news organizations, and newspersons were removed and replaced with broader provisions covering synthetic media and political campaign advertisements.

Specific definitions for artificial audio/visual media, journalism, news organizations, and newspersons were removed from the final enacted version.

New enforcement mechanisms were added including venue preferences for specific legal actions and expanded authority over political campaign advertisements and synthetic media penalties.

The bill status changed from 'Introduced' on January 8, 2025 to 'Enrolled' indicating it has been approved and is ready for the Governor's signature.