---
type: "Bill"
title: "Accounts filed by fiduciaries and reports filed by guardians; civil penalty."
description: "Accounts filed by fiduciaries and reports filed by guardians; civil penalty. Provides that any account filed by a fiduciary with the commissioner of accounts and annual report filed by a guardian with the local department of social services shall be signed under oath and that the punishment for making a false statement or entry in such a filing is a civil penalty of not more than $500. This bill incorporates SB 308 and is identical to HB 1166. "
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 261"
citation: "Virginia SB 261 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["A. Benton \"Ben\" Chafin"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-03"
last_action: "2020-03-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/07d18e3c-00ae-4aff-905c-aa8851d3eca0"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB261"
source_hash: "c2b28da57b3dd917137c7529a1a64ffb0974c887cc8166855478d8bc05aa2c20"
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 261 (2020) — Accounts filed by fiduciaries and reports filed by guardians; civil penalty.

Accounts filed by fiduciaries and reports filed by guardians; civil penalty. Provides that any account filed by a fiduciary with the commissioner of accounts and annual report filed by a guardian with the local department of social services shall be signed under oath and that the punishment for making a false statement or entry in such a filing is a civil penalty of not more than $500. This bill incorporates SB 308 and is identical to HB 1166. 

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0190)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0190)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB261ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB261ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB261S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB261)
4. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB261S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB261S1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (99-Y 1-N) — **98–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 1-N) — **21–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- A. Benton "Ben" Chafin — primary (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104495D `introduction`
- **2020-01-03** 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
- **2020-01-16** Assigned Judiciary sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Incorporates SB308 (Stanley)
- **2020-02-05** Committee substitute printed 20105830D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 20105830D-S1
- **2020-02-10** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB261S1
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** Impact statement from DPB (SB261S1)
- **2020-02-14** Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Passed by temporarily
- **2020-02-19** Passed House (99-Y 1-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** VOTE: Passage (99-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled
- **2020-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB261ER)
- **2020-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-25** Signed by President
- **2020-02-28** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 28, 2020
- **2020-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 6, 2020
- **2020-03-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 190 (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/07d18e3c-00ae-4aff-905c-aa8851d3eca0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).