---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil actions; determination of indigency."
description: "Civil actions; determination of indigency.Sets out the factors to be considered by the court in its determinationof a person's indigency for the purpose of determining inabilityto pay fees or costs in a civil action. The bill also provides thata person is presumed unable to pay if he is a current recipient ofa state or federally funded public assistance program or he is representedby a legal aid society. The bill provides that the presumption isrebuttable except in the case of a no-fault divorce."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 1032"
citation: "Virginia SB 1032 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ghazala F. Hashmi"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 28
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-17"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3f1e3e11-daf6-44e3-ba07-6b64113859ff"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB1032"
source_hash: "8d4c12d4934b544997665df7d0f98dcb6e52c8a05ec9a9782e6084a41b94e300"
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 SB 1032 (2020) — Civil actions; determination of indigency.

Civil actions; determination of indigency.Sets out the factors to be considered by the court in its determinationof a person's indigency for the purpose of determining inabilityto pay fees or costs in a civil action. The bill also provides thata person is presumed unable to pay if he is a current recipient ofa state or federally funded public assistance program or he is representedby a legal aid society. The bill provides that the presumption isrebuttable except in the case of a no-fault divorce.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0654)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0654)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1032ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB1032ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB1032)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB1032)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N) — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N) — **10–5** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N) — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (20-Y 20-N) — **20–20** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (82-Y 13-N) — **81–13** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ghazala F. Hashmi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-17** Presented and ordered printed 20102102D `introduction`
- **2020-01-17** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-03** Reported from Judiciary (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-03** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-06** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB1032)
- **2020-02-11** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-11** Passed Senate (20-Y 20-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-11** Chair votes Yes
- **2020-02-14** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-14** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-14** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-28** Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-04** Passed House (82-Y 13-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** VOTE: Passage (82-Y 13-N)
- **2020-03-07** Enrolled
- **2020-03-07** Signed by President
- **2020-03-08** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-10** Impact statement from DPB (SB1032ER)
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 654 (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/3f1e3e11-daf6-44e3-ba07-6b64113859ff`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).