---
type: "Bill"
title: "Homestead exemption; bankruptcy exemptions."
description: "Homestead exemption; bankruptcy exemptions. Makes various changes to homestead exemptions, including providing that the official schedule of property claimed exempt filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court in a bankruptcy proceeding constitutes a sufficient writing to exempt such real and personal property from creditor process. The bill also provides that a householder may hold exempt from creditor process real or personal property that the householder or his dependent uses as a principal residence not exceeding $25,000 in value. The bill requires that the dollar amounts of the homestead exemption shall be adjusted triennially based on the United States Average Consumer Price Index."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 790"
citation: "Virginia HB 790 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marcus B. Simon"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 34
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6d8db994-5b06-4f08-9e05-29016b3ffe9c"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB790"
source_hash: "9ffa52874fd1769441f0e6ed4e61f735f8cf8ea091e21bb5806baa3837be7e82"
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 790 (2020) — Homestead exemption; bankruptcy exemptions.

Homestead exemption; bankruptcy exemptions. Makes various changes to homestead exemptions, including providing that the official schedule of property claimed exempt filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court in a bankruptcy proceeding constitutes a sufficient writing to exempt such real and personal property from creditor process. The bill also provides that a householder may hold exempt from creditor process real or personal property that the householder or his dependent uses as a principal residence not exceeding $25,000 in value. The bill requires that the dollar amounts of the homestead exemption shall be adjusted triennially based on the United States Average Consumer Price Index.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0328)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0328)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB790ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB790ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB790H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB790)
4. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB790H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB790H1)
5. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB790S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB790S1)

## Votes

- Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (96-Y 0-N) — **95–0** (pass) · lower
- 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

- Marcus B. Simon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104136D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** Committee substitute printed 20106775D-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 20106775D-H1
- **2020-02-05** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB790H1
- **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`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-17** Committee substitute printed 20108364D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-19** Committee substitute agreed to 20108364D-S1
- **2020-02-19** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB790S1
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate with substitute (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 with substitute (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-21** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108364D-S1 (96-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** VOTE: Adoption (96-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 5, 2020
- **2020-03-05** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 328 (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/6d8db994-5b06-4f08-9e05-29016b3ffe9c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).