---
type: "Bill"
title: "Certificate of birth; new certificate issued to show change of sex."
description: "Board of Health; certificate of birth; changeof sex. Establishes that, upon request of a person and in accordancewith requirements of the Board of Health, the State Registrar shallissue a new certificate of birth to show a change of sex of the personand, if a certified copy of a court order changing the person's nameis submitted, to show a new name. Requirements related to obtaininga new certificate of birth to show a change of sex may include a requirement that the person requesting the new certificate of birthsubmit an affidavit provided by a health care provider from whomthe person has received treatment stating that the person has undergoneclinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition.Requirements related to obtaining a new certificate of birth to showa change of sex shall not include any requirement for evidence ordocumentation of any medical procedure."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 657"
citation: "Virginia SB 657 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jennifer B. Boysko"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 34
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/98ba7481-f862-48ce-b07a-a08845a9206f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB657"
source_hash: "386222c04da3e9af4069164847e4d69ebd9245d2b5b46fa6c683bf79a04b2c23"
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 657 (2020) — Certificate of birth; new certificate issued to show change of sex.

Board of Health; certificate of birth; changeof sex. Establishes that, upon request of a person and in accordancewith requirements of the Board of Health, the State Registrar shallissue a new certificate of birth to show a change of sex of the personand, if a certified copy of a court order changing the person's nameis submitted, to show a new name. Requirements related to obtaininga new certificate of birth to show a change of sex may include a requirement that the person requesting the new certificate of birthsubmit an affidavit provided by a health care provider from whomthe person has received treatment stating that the person has undergoneclinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition.Requirements related to obtaining a new certificate of birth to showa change of sex shall not include any requirement for evidence ordocumentation of any medical procedure.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0466)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0466)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB657ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB657ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB657S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB657S1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB657)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB657)
5. **Impact statement from DPB (SB657H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB657H1)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health with substitute (10-Y 5-N) — **10–5** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (24-Y 16-N) — **24–16** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (52-Y 45-N) — **51–45** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (24-Y 15-N) — **24–15** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jennifer B. Boysko — primary (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph D. Morrissey — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101198D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (SB657)
- **2020-01-16** Committee substitute printed 20105702D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-16** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-20** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-01-20** Committee substitute agreed to 20105702D-S1
- **2020-01-20** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB657S1
- **2020-01-21** Read third time and passed Senate (24-Y 15-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-22** Impact statement from DPB (SB657S1)
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Committee substitute printed 20108473D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-20** Impact statement from DPB (SB657H1)
- **2020-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** Committee substitute agreed to 20108473D-H1
- **2020-02-21** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB657H1
- **2020-02-21** Passed House with substitute (52-Y 45-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** VOTE: Passage (52-Y 45-N)
- **2020-02-25** House substitute agreed to by Senate (24-Y 16-N)
- **2020-02-25** Title replaced 20108473D-H1
- **2020-03-02** Enrolled
- **2020-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (SB657ER)
- **2020-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-03** 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
- **2020-03-25** Approved by Governor-Chapter 466 (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/98ba7481-f862-48ce-b07a-a08845a9206f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).