---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courthouse and courtroom security; assessment."
description: "Courthouse and courtroom security; assessment.Increases from $10 to $20 the maximum amount a local governing bodymay assess against a convicted defendant as part of the costs ina criminal or traffic case in district or circuit court to fund courthouseand courtroom security."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 149"
citation: "Virginia SB 149 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Janet D. Howell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-12-18"
last_action: "2020-04-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6e3e8b3e-170f-4f08-b20d-109be444a4e6"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB149"
source_hash: "9ff3f88dcf1822e0b5c65e5794e2533a41e4fc784107daf6faf00eeba5e52244"
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 149 (2020) — Courthouse and courtroom security; assessment.

Courthouse and courtroom security; assessment.Increases from $10 to $20 the maximum amount a local governing bodymay assess against a convicted defendant as part of the costs ina criminal or traffic case in district or circuit court to fund courthouseand courtroom security.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0602)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0602)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB149ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB149ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB149)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB149)

## Votes

- Reported from Public Safety (19-Y 2-N) — **19–2** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 2-N) — **14–2** (pass) · upper
- Rereferred from Judiciary (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (81-Y 18-N) — **80–18** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (31-Y 9-N) — **31–9** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Janet D. Howell — primary (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-12-18** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101599D `introduction`
- **2019-12-18** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-08** Moved from Courts of Justice to Judiciary due to a change of the committee name
- **2020-01-13** Rereferred from Judiciary (13-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-13** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (SB149)
- **2020-01-30** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-04** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** Read third time and passed Senate (31-Y 9-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** Assigned PS sub: Firearms `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Reported from Public Safety (19-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-26** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-26** Passed House (81-Y 18-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** VOTE: Passage (81-Y 18-N)
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled
- **2020-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (SB149ER)
- **2020-03-03** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-04** Signed by President
- **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
- **2020-04-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 602 (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/6e3e8b3e-170f-4f08-b20d-109be444a4e6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).