---
type: "Bill"
title: "Celebration of marriage; fee."
description: "Celebration of marriage; fee. Increases from $50 to $75 the maximum fee that may be charged by a person other than a minister who is authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 955"
citation: "Virginia SB 955 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lionell Spruill, Sr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-14"
last_action: "2020-03-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d42bc988-3599-44eb-ad60-224d64129fda"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB955"
source_hash: "e1e5c8aac373dfd5a4002784335c1bbb1e243245d95c6d1a304823a46e317f63"
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 955 (2020) — Celebration of marriage; fee.

Celebration of marriage; fee. Increases from $50 to $75 the maximum fee that may be charged by a person other than a minister who is authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0181)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0181)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB955ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB955)
3. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB955ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB955ER)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N) — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N) — **21–18** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (9-Y 6-N) — **9–6** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (23-Y 16-N) — **23–16** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (57-Y 42-N 1-A) — **56–42** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lionell Spruill, Sr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-14** Presented and ordered printed 20105259D `introduction`
- **2020-01-14** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Judiciary (9-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-29** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-30** Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-30** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-30** Passed Senate (23-Y 16-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-11** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-14** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Passed House (57-Y 42-N 1-A) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** VOTE: Passage (57-Y 42-N 1-A)
- **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 181 (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/d42bc988-3599-44eb-ad60-224d64129fda`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).