---
type: "Bill"
title: "Duty of care to law-enforcement officers and firefighters; fireman's rule."
description: "Provides that the common-law doctrine known as the fireman's rule, as described in the bill, shall not be a defense to certain claims. The fireman's rule is based on assumption of the usual risks of injury in such employment, whether caused by a negligent or a nonnegligent act of the defendant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1590"
citation: "Virginia HB 1590 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies and Procedure", "Police", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeffrey L. Campbell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 20
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2017-01-02"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a3e11e3d-1903-4043-a98d-088903f99690"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1590"
source_hash: "1b853d027f88237a15dedc59e0540f742b38553fd08f499dd1d4e58f778a2950"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1590 (2017) — Duty of care to law-enforcement officers and firefighters; fireman's rule.

Provides that the common-law doctrine known as the fireman's rule, as described in the bill, shall not be a defense to certain claims. The fireman's rule is based on assumption of the usual risks of injury in such employment, whether caused by a negligent or a nonnegligent act of the defendant.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0315)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0315)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1590ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1590ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102558D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1590)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105562D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1590S1)

## Votes

- Passed Senate with substitute — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105562D-S1 — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **21–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Jeffrey L. Campbell — primary (person)
- Israel D. O'Quinn — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102558D `introduction`
- **2017-01-02** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-01** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-02** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-20** Committee substitute agreed to 17105562D-S1
- **2017-02-20** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1590S1
- **2017-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-21** Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105562D-S1 (97-Y 0-N)
- **2017-02-24** Enrolled
- **2017-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 315 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a3e11e3d-1903-4043-a98d-088903f99690`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).