---
type: "Bill"
title: "Accrual of cause of action; diagnosis of latent injury."
description: "Accrual of cause of action; diagnosis of latent injury or disease. Provides that a cause of action for a latent injury shall accrue when such injury and its causal connection to an injurious or disease-causing substance, product, or circumstance is first communicated to the injured person or his agent by a physician. The bill further provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant substance-related, product-related, or circumstance-related latent injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant substance-related latent injury or disease."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2139"
citation: "Virginia HB 2139 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Elizabeth R. Guzman"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 39
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7c6661db-12c9-4223-b66c-fce3306ed71c"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2139"
source_hash: "57871f1e0eb2e2af1c00d98dcb050a4cd2c688eb650e0714f7b8bb7415003780"
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 2139 (2021) — Accrual of cause of action; diagnosis of latent injury.

Accrual of cause of action; diagnosis of latent injury or disease. Provides that a cause of action for a latent injury shall accrue when such injury and its causal connection to an injurious or disease-causing substance, product, or circumstance is first communicated to the injured person or his agent by a physician. The bill further provides that a diagnosis of a nonmalignant substance-related, product-related, or circumstance-related latent injury or disease shall not accrue an action based upon the subsequent diagnosis of a malignant substance-related latent injury or disease.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0195** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0195)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21200305D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2139S1)
3. **HB2139ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2139ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102437D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2139)
5. **Printed as engrossed 21102437D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2139E)

## Votes

- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (10-Y 4-N) — **10–4** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (7-Y 1-N) — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (95-Y 0-N) — **94–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed by indefinitely in Judiciary with letter (13-Y 2-N) — **13–2** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute (30-Y 8-N) — **30–8** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Elizabeth R. Guzman — primary (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
- Lee J. Carter — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102437D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-21** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-22** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (7-Y 1-N)
- **2021-01-27** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-27** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-29** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2021-01-29** Engrossed by House as amended HB2139E
- **2021-01-29** Printed as engrossed 21102437D-E
- **2021-02-01** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-01** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-02** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-10** Passed by indefinitely in Judiciary with letter (13-Y 2-N)
- **2021-02-15** Reconsidered by Judiciary
- **2021-02-15** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-17** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-17** Committee substitute printed 21200305D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-17** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (10-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-22** Committee substitute agreed to 21200305D-S1
- **2021-02-22** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB2139S1
- **2021-02-22** Passed Senate with substitute (30-Y 8-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-23** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-23** Senate substitute agreed to by House 21200305D-S1 (95-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-23** VOTE: Adoption (95-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled
- **2021-02-25** Signed by President
- **2021-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-01** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
- **2021-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 195 (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/7c6661db-12c9-4223-b66c-fce3306ed71c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).