Senate Bill ('SB') 1026 to amend the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act ('CDPA') in relation to protections for children was passed, on 25 January 2023, by the Committee on General Laws and Technology. In particular, SB 1026 was introduced to the State Senate, on 7 January 2023, and referred to the Committee on the same date. More specifically, the bill, if enacted, introduces the following amendments:

• a change to §59.1-575 of the CDPA redefining 'child' as 'any natural person under the age of 18';
• an amendment to §59.1-576 on the scope of the CDPA, to remove the exemption in respect of controllers and processors that comply with the verifiable consent requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ('COPPA') to obtain parental consent;
• add §59.1-577.1, which requires operators to obtain verifiable parental consent for children's data prior to registering any child with the operator's product or service or prior to collecting, using, or disclosing such child's personal data; and
• an addition to §59.1-578, to state that controllers are prohibited from processing personal data of a child for the purposes of targeted advertising, sale of such personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer.

Notably, SB 1026 is a companion bill to House Bill ('HB') 1688 which was introduced to the Virginia General Assembly and provides for the same amendments. 

You can read SB 1026 here and track its progress here.