---
type: "Bill"
title: "Fornication; repeals the crime, i.e., voluntary sexual intercourse by an unmarried person."
description: "Fornication; repeal. Repeals the crime of fornication, i.e., voluntary sexual intercourse by an unmarried person, punishable under current law as a Class 4 misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 245"
citation: "Virginia HB 245 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark H. Levine"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-12-30"
last_action: "2020-03-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/132902a4-3f54-41ec-ac5a-920f230335ac"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB245"
source_hash: "3955b6b7edff74479698835e35523f36231457b004752f2e64ad4dc7c4e6fce7"
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 245 (2020) — Fornication; repeals the crime, i.e., voluntary sexual intercourse by an unmarried person.

Fornication; repeal. Repeals the crime of fornication, i.e., voluntary sexual intercourse by an unmarried person, punishable under current law as a Class 4 misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0122)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0122)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB245ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB245)
3. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB245ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB245ER)

## Votes

- VOTE: Passage (91-Y 5-N 1-A) — **90–5** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N) — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 0-N) — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mark H. Levine — primary (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-12-30** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101003D `introduction`
- **2019-12-30** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-28** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N)
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House (91-Y 5-N 1-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Passage (91-Y 5-N 1-A)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Judiciary (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** Enrolled
- **2020-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-24** Signed by President
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 26, 2020
- **2020-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 4, 2020
- **2020-03-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 122 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/132902a4-3f54-41ec-ac5a-920f230335ac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).