---
type: "Bill"
title: "Best interests of the child; history of child abuse and acts of violence, etc."
description: "Best interests of the child; act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild; history of child abuse. Provides that any act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild or any history of child abuse shall be considered by a court in determining the best interests of a child for the purposes ofa custody or visitation arrangement."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 861"
citation: "Virginia HB 861 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark H. Levine"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 37
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d84d251f-fdf1-4499-9987-cbb17e89cb6d"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB861"
source_hash: "91670f07d47de42e8c15f99d89fa34ac87b0d2ae5d0f0baa5b3885270ef5eb07"
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 861 (2020) — Best interests of the child; history of child abuse and acts of violence, etc.

Best interests of the child; act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild; history of child abuse. Provides that any act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild or any history of child abuse shall be considered by a court in determining the best interests of a child for the purposes ofa custody or visitation arrangement.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1074)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP1074)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB861ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB861ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB861S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB861)
4. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB861S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB861S1)
5. **HB861H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB861H1)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: REJECTED (2-Y 97-N) — **2–96** (fail) · lower
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark H. Levine — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104789D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-31** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-31** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-03** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-12** Committee substitute printed 20108180D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-17** Committee substitute agreed to 20108180D-S1
- **2020-02-17** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB861S1
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate with substitute (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-19** Senate substitute rejected by House 20108180D-S1 (2-Y 97-N)
- **2020-02-19** VOTE: REJECTED (2-Y 97-N)
- **2020-02-21** Senate insisted on substitute (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Senate requested conference committee
- **2020-02-24** House acceded to request
- **2020-02-24** Conferees appointed by House
- **2020-02-25** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2020-03-05** Amended by conference committee
- **2020-03-05** Conference substitute printed 20109724D-H1
- **2020-03-05** Conference report agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-05** VOTE: Adoption (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-07** Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-18** Enrolled
- **2020-03-18** Signed by President
- **2020-03-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-20** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 20, 2020
- **2020-03-20** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 1074 (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/d84d251f-fdf1-4499-9987-cbb17e89cb6d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).