---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bicyclists and other vulnerable road users; penalty."
description: "Bicyclists and other vulnerable road users; penalty. Provides that a person who operates a motor vehicle in a careless or distracted manner and is the proximate cause of serious physical injury to a vulnerable road user, defined in the bill as a pedestrian; the operator of or passenger on a bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, wheel chair or wheel chair conveyance, skateboard, roller skates, motorized skateboard or scooter, or animal-drawn vehicle or any attached device; or any person riding an animal, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also prohibits the driver of a motor vehicle from crossing into a bicycle lane to pass or attempt to pass another vehicle, except in certain circumstances."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 437"
citation: "Virginia SB 437 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 39
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/954efc84-d4db-4c3a-ba17-e35c034a5f4b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB437"
source_hash: "e149bc3587776204d27237120990b634d197c53428c0be8f5df4abcda53d986b"
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 437 (2020) — Bicyclists and other vulnerable road users; penalty.

Bicyclists and other vulnerable road users; penalty. Provides that a person who operates a motor vehicle in a careless or distracted manner and is the proximate cause of serious physical injury to a vulnerable road user, defined in the bill as a pedestrian; the operator of or passenger on a bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, wheel chair or wheel chair conveyance, skateboard, roller skates, motorized skateboard or scooter, or animal-drawn vehicle or any attached device; or any person riding an animal, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also prohibits the driver of a motor vehicle from crossing into a bicycle lane to pass or attempt to pass another vehicle, except in certain circumstances.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1259)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP1259)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB437ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB437ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB437)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB437)
4. **Reenrolled bill text (SB437ER2)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB437ER2)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (5-Y 1-N) — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N) — **39–1** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (63-Y 37-N) — **62–37** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Transportation (10-Y 5-N) — **10–5** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Transportation with amendment (15-Y 6-N) — **15–6** (pass) · lower
- House amendment agreed to by Senate (26-Y 14-N) — **26–14** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: (56-Y 36-N) — **55–36** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (25-Y 15-N) — **25–15** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)
- Jill Holtzman Vogel — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100562D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (SB437)
- **2020-01-16** Reported from Transportation (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-21** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-22** Read third time and passed Senate (25-Y 15-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 Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned Transportation sub: Motor Vehicles `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-02-17** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (5-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-20** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-02-20** Reported from Transportation with amendment (15-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-25** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-02-25** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2020-02-25** Passed House with amendment (63-Y 37-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-25** VOTE: Passage (63-Y 37-N)
- **2020-02-27** Passed by temporarily
- **2020-02-27** House amendment agreed to by Senate (26-Y 14-N)
- **2020-03-04** Enrolled
- **2020-03-04** Impact statement from DPB (SB437ER)
- **2020-03-05** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Signed by Speaker
- **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
- **2020-04-11** Governor's recommendation received by Senate
- **2020-04-22** Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N)
- **2020-04-22** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (56-Y 36-N)
- **2020-04-22** VOTE: (56-Y 36-N)
- **2020-04-22** Governor's recommendation adopted
- **2020-04-22** Reenrolled
- **2020-04-22** Reenrolled bill text (SB437ER2)
- **2020-04-22** Signed by President as reenrolled
- **2020-04-22** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
- **2020-04-22** Enacted, Chapter 1259 (effective 7/1/20) `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/954efc84-d4db-4c3a-ba17-e35c034a5f4b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).