---
type: "Bill"
title: "Death penalty; abolition of current penalty."
description: "Abolition of the death penalty. Abolishes the death penalty, including for those persons currently under a death sentence. The bill provides that no person may be sentenced to death or put to death on or after its effective date for any violation of law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1165"
citation: "Virginia SB 1165 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 64
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2021-01-08"
last_action: "2021-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7508a3b4-95b2-49e2-9144-d389b968146f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1165"
source_hash: "0a2e2bd31c4ee2c873b8f39bfb8e0cf6864028d85a61c259ce7c5d7cbabca2a5"
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 1165 (2021) — Death penalty; abolition of current penalty.

Abolition of the death penalty. Abolishes the death penalty, including for those persons currently under a death sentence. The bill provides that no person may be sentenced to death or put to death on or after its effective date for any violation of law.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0345** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0345)
2. **SB1165ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1165ER)
3. **SB1165S3** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1165S3)
4. **SB1165S4** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1165S4)
5. **SB1165S5** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1165S5)
6. **SB1165S6** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1165S6)

## Votes

- Substitute by Senator Norment rejected 21104328D-S5 (17-Y 22-N) — **17–22** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (10-Y 4-N) — **10–4** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 17-N) — **21–17** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (12-Y 4-N) — **12–4** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (57-Y 43-N) — **56–43** (pass) · lower
- Substitute by Senator Stanley rejected 21103373D-S2 (17-Y 22-N) — **17–22** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Substitute by Senator Norment rejected 21104325D-S6 (16-Y 23-N) — **16–23** (fail) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)
- Adam P. Ebbin — cosponsor (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Barbara A. Favola — cosponsor (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Ghazala F. Hashmi — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer B. Boysko — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- John J. Bell — cosponsor (person)
- John S. Edwards — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph D. Morrissey — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Lionell Spruill, Sr. — cosponsor (person)
- Mamie E. Locke — cosponsor (person)
- Mark D. Sickles — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100656D `introduction`
- **2021-01-08** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-11** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165)
- **2021-01-18** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-18** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (10-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-18** Committee substitute printed 21103081D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-01-18** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-19** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165S1)
- **2021-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (SB1165S1)
- **2021-01-26** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (12-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-28** Floor substitute printed 21103373D-S2 (Stanley)
- **2021-01-28** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-28** Floor substitute printed 21103876D-S3 (Norment)
- **2021-01-28** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-28** Passed by for the day
- **2021-01-28** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165S3)
- **2021-01-28** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165S2)
- **2021-01-29** Passed by for the day
- **2021-02-01** Passed by for the day
- **2021-02-02** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-02** Floor substitute printed 21103949D-S4 (Surovell)
- **2021-02-02** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-02** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-02** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-02** Floor substitute printed 21104328D-S5 (Norment)
- **2021-02-02** Substitute bill reprinted 21104328D-S5
- **2021-02-02** Floor substitute printed 21104325D-S6 (Norment)
- **2021-02-02** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165S4)
- **2021-02-02** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165S6)
- **2021-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Committee substitute rejected 21103081D-S1
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Senator Stanley rejected 21103373D-S2 (17-Y 22-N)
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Senator Norment withdrawn 21103876D-S3
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Senator Surovell passed by temporarily
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Senator Norment rejected 21104325D-S6 (16-Y 23-N)
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Senator Norment rejected 21104328D-S5 (17-Y 22-N)
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Substitute by Senator Surovell agreed to 21103949D-S4
- **2021-02-02** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB1165S4
- **2021-02-03** Impact statement from VCSC (SB1165S5)
- **2021-02-03** Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 17-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice
- **2021-02-17** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Pending question ordered
- **2021-02-22** Passed House (57-Y 43-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-22** VOTE: Passage (57-Y 43-N)
- **2021-02-24** Enrolled
- **2021-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB1165ER)
- **2021-02-24** Signed by President
- **2021-02-25** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-26** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 26, 2021
- **2021-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 345 (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/7508a3b4-95b2-49e2-9144-d389b968146f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).