An Act to amend and reenact § 44-75.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to militia state active duty; cyber-related support.
HB1334 amends Virginia’s militia state active duty statute to add cyber-related support as an express basis for calling the militia or National Guard into state active duty. Under the revised law, the Governor may activate the militia when cyber preparedness, response, or mitigation is needed to assist state or local agencies, or private entities that operate critical infrastructure. The bill also updates the training provision so the militia may be trained for cyber-related support and other listed active-duty circumstances.
The measure retains the existing grounds for activation, including invasion, insurrection, law-enforcement assistance, natural disasters, lesser emergencies, and counterdrug operations. It also preserves the authority for the National Guard to support drug interdiction and related activities, while making a technical conforming change to the training subsection so it references the newly added cyber-support authority. The bill does not create a new agency or program, but it broadens the circumstances under which the Governor may deploy militia resources.
HB1334 expands § 44-75.1 of the Code of Virginia by adding cyber-related support to the list of emergencies and public-safety situations that can trigger militia state active duty. This gives the Governor explicit statutory authority to use the militia or National Guard for cybersecurity preparedness, response, and mitigation in support of government entities and critical infrastructure providers. It also allows training for those cyber-related missions, which may affect how the Virginia National Guard prepares for and coordinates with state, local, federal, and private-sector partners.
The available record shows no committee transcript, recorded debate, or vote breakdown, so there is no documented opposition or support to characterize in detail. The bill’s enactment as Chapter 466 suggests it moved successfully through the legislative process and was approved by the Governor. Based on the text alone, the measure appears to have been treated as a practical modernization of militia authority to address cyber threats alongside traditional emergency-response roles.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of policy interest, however, include the scope of “cyber-related support,” the inclusion of private critical infrastructure entities as beneficiaries of militia assistance, and how such deployments would be coordinated with civilian cybersecurity and emergency-management agencies. The bill also preserves the National Guard’s law-enforcement support role, but the new cyber authority is the principal expansion and likely the main subject for any policy debate.