---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Fair Housing Law; reasonable accommodations, disability-related requests for parking."
description: "Virginia Fair Housing Law; reasonable accommodations; disability-related requests for parking. Provides that for thepurposes of the Virginia Fair Housing Law, when a person receivesa request for accessible parking to accommodate a disability, theperson receiving the request shall treat such request as a reasonable accommodation, and any costs, fees, or charges related to the installation, designation, marking, or reconfiguration of a parking space relatedto such reasonable accommodation request shall be borne by the personreceiving the request. The bill provides that it is declarative ofexisting law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1971"
citation: "Virginia HB 1971 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Betsy B. Carr"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-02-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ec856240-449b-4f99-a4d9-ccd46f78233a"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1971"
source_hash: "5cc97a269201d3a3d6a6c0640c0640f2c2ac375f2395ed07a64e12478246d0d9"
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 HB 1971 (2021) — Virginia Fair Housing Law; reasonable accommodations, disability-related requests for parking.

Virginia Fair Housing Law; reasonable accommodations; disability-related requests for parking. Provides that for thepurposes of the Virginia Fair Housing Law, when a person receivesa request for accessible parking to accommodate a disability, theperson receiving the request shall treat such request as a reasonable accommodation, and any costs, fees, or charges related to the installation, designation, marking, or reconfiguration of a parking space relatedto such reasonable accommodation request shall be borne by the personreceiving the request. The bill provides that it is declarative ofexisting law.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0017** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0017)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21103166D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1971H1)
3. **HB1971ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1971ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102343D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1971)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (38-Y 1-N) — **38–1** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (77-Y 22-N) — **76–22** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws with substitute (17-Y 5-N) — **17–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Betsy B. Carr — primary (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102343D `introduction`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-17** Assigned GL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB1971)
- **2021-01-21** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-26** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-26** Reported from General Laws with substitute (17-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-26** Committee substitute printed 21103166D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-01-27** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-28** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-28** Committee substitute agreed to 21103166D-H1
- **2021-01-28** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1971H1
- **2021-01-29** Read third time and passed House (77-Y 22-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-29** VOTE: Passage (77-Y 22-N)
- **2021-02-01** Impact statement from DPB (HB1971H1)
- **2021-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-01** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-10** Reported from General Laws and Technology (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-12** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-15** Passed Senate (38-Y 1-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-17** Enrolled
- **2021-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB1971ER)
- **2021-02-17** Signed by President
- **2021-02-18** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-19** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 19, 2021
- **2021-02-19** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., February 26, 2021
- **2021-02-25** Approved by Governor-Chapter 17 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ec856240-449b-4f99-a4d9-ccd46f78233a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).