---
type: "Bill"
title: "Human Rights, Division of; renamed as Office of Civil Rights."
description: "Division of Human Rights; renamed as Officeof Civil Rights. Renames the Division of Human Rights in theDepartment of Law as the Office of Civil Rights."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2147"
citation: "Virginia HB 2147 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charniele L. Herring"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 27
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ac28d759-13e3-41bc-98f4-abcdb798a5c9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2147"
source_hash: "18dca9139501fc8a4f53433b9cd26d05955e835154ab39fe0a373f79902069bb"
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 2147 (2021) — Human Rights, Division of; renamed as Office of Civil Rights.

Division of Human Rights; renamed as Officeof Civil Rights. Renames the Division of Human Rights in theDepartment of Law as the Office of Civil Rights.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0196** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0196)
2. **HB2147ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2147ER)
3. **HB2147H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2147H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102585D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2147)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (11-Y 7-N) — **11–7** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (8-Y 2-N) — **8–2** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (23-Y 16-N) — **23–16** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (49-Y 46-N) — **48–46** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: REJECTED (24-Y 62-N) — **24–61** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Charniele L. Herring — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102585D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (HB2147)
- **2021-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice (11-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-29** Floor substitute printed 21104103D-H1 (Jones)
- **2021-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-29** Substitute by Delegate Jones rejected 21104103D-H1 (24-Y 62-N)
- **2021-01-29** VOTE: REJECTED (24-Y 62-N)
- **2021-01-29** Engrossed by House
- **2021-02-01** Read third time and passed House (49-Y 46-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-01** VOTE: Passage (49-Y 46-N)
- **2021-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-02** 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)
- **2021-02-11** Impact statement from DPB (HB2147H1)
- **2021-02-17** Reported from General Laws and Technology (8-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Passed Senate (23-Y 16-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled
- **2021-02-25** Signed by President
- **2021-02-26** Impact statement from DPB (HB2147ER)
- **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 196 (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/ac28d759-13e3-41bc-98f4-abcdb798a5c9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).