---
type: "Bill"
title: "Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury."
description: "Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury or disease. Provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant asbestos-related injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant asbestos-related injury or disease and that such subsequent diagnosis shall constitute a separate injury that shall accrue an action when such diagnosis is first communicated to the person or his agent by a physician. The bill is intended to reverse Kiser v. A.W. Chesteron, 285 Va. 12 (2013). This bill is identical to SB 661."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 781"
citation: "Virginia HB 781 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Michael P. Mullin"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3cc31360-1ec0-4259-8557-c17eee273992"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB781"
source_hash: "d235539ac81fd55c20b429d6e2c4acad4f4cb48bb736e1b0e346c8b3c5d654ea"
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 781 (2020) — Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury.

Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury or disease. Provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant asbestos-related injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant asbestos-related injury or disease and that such subsequent diagnosis shall constitute a separate injury that shall accrue an action when such diagnosis is first communicated to the person or his agent by a physician. The bill is intended to reverse Kiser v. A.W. Chesteron, 285 Va. 12 (2013). This bill is identical to SB 661.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0099)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0099)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB781ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB781ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB781H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB781H1)
4. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB781H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB781)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Michael P. Mullin — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104787D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** Committee substitute printed 20105696D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** Committee substitute agreed to 20105696D-H1
- **2020-02-05** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB781H1
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Judiciary (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-20** Enrolled
- **2020-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-21** Signed by President
- **2020-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2020
- **2020-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 3, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Approved by Governor-Chapter 99 (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/3cc31360-1ec0-4259-8557-c17eee273992`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).