---
type: "Bill"
title: "Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury."
description: "Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury or disease. Provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant asbestos-related injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant asbestos-related injury or disease and that such subsequent diagnosis shall constitute a separate injury that shall accrue an action when such diagnosis is first communicated to the person or his agent by a physician. The bill is intended to reverse Kiser v. A.W. Chesteron, 285 Va. 12 (2013). This bill is identical to HB 781."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 661"
citation: "Virginia SB 661 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 25
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4f23e4e8-da38-4e11-b113-d39eb185653f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB661"
source_hash: "340d51fd64753cd83560e1a3462309f711fbdf86456a0390d933c6fcb891e6b5"
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 661 (2020) — Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury.

Accrual of cause of action; diagnoses of nonmalignant and malignant asbestos-related injury or disease. Provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant asbestos-related injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant asbestos-related injury or disease and that such subsequent diagnosis shall constitute a separate injury that shall accrue an action when such diagnosis is first communicated to the person or his agent by a physician. The bill is intended to reverse Kiser v. A.W. Chesteron, 285 Va. 12 (2013). This bill is identical to HB 781.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0180)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0180)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB661ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB661ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB661S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB661S1)
4. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB661S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB661)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)
- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104620D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-24** Assigned Judiciary sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Committee substitute printed 20105691D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-03** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 20105691D-S1
- **2020-02-03** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB661S1
- **2020-02-04** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-12** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-12** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-12** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** VOTE: (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled
- **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 180 (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/4f23e4e8-da38-4e11-b113-d39eb185653f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).