---
type: "Bill"
title: "Active military or a military spouse; prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, etc."
description: "Active military or a military spouse; prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, etc. Prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and housing on the basis of a person's military status, defined as a member of the uniformed services of the United States or a reserve component thereof or a spouse or other dependent of the same. The bill also prohibits terms in a rental agreement in which the tenant agrees to waive remedies or rights under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prior to the occurrence of a dispute between the landlord and the tenant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2161"
citation: "Virginia HB 2161 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kathy K.L. Tran"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 32
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5969b9f5-d225-4e37-9cec-a4631ab483ef"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2161"
source_hash: "703f0ad1d0f9fa672bedcb6b4b8770d9951f2794afd17856224cb7e21636930a"
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 2161 (2021) — Active military or a military spouse; prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, etc.

Active military or a military spouse; prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, etc. Prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and housing on the basis of a person's military status, defined as a member of the uniformed services of the United States or a reserve component thereof or a spouse or other dependent of the same. The bill also prohibits terms in a rental agreement in which the tenant agrees to waive remedies or rights under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prior to the occurrence of a dispute between the landlord and the tenant.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0477** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0477)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21103874D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2161H1)
3. **HB2161ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2161ER)
4. **HB2161H2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2161H2)
5. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102352D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2161)

## Votes

- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws with substitute (20-Y 0-N) — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kathy K.L. Tran — primary (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Bill D. Wiley — cosponsor (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Candi Mundon King — cosponsor (person)
- Dan I. Helmer — cosponsor (person)
- Danica A. Roem — cosponsor (person)
- David A. Reid — cosponsor (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Hala S. Ayala — cosponsor (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)
- Sally L. Hudson — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102352D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-20** Impact statement from DPB (HB2161)
- **2021-01-27** Assigned GL sub: Professions/Occupations and Administrative Process `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-28** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-28** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-28** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-28** Reported from General Laws with substitute (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-28** Committee substitute printed 21103874D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-01** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-02** Floor substitute printed 21104006D-H2 (Tran)
- **2021-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Committee substitute rejected 21103874D-H1
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Delegate Tran agreed to 21104006D-H2
- **2021-02-02** Engrossed by House - floor substitute HB2161H2
- **2021-02-03** Read third time and passed House (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-03** VOTE: Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-04** 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 (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-12** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-15** Impact statement from DPB (HB2161H2)
- **2021-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-15** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-19** Enrolled
- **2021-02-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB2161ER)
- **2021-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
- **2021-02-24** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 24, 2021
- **2021-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-31** Approved by Governor-Chapter 477 (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/5969b9f5-d225-4e37-9cec-a4631ab483ef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).