---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sexual abuse of animals; definitions, penalty."
description: "Sexual abuse of animals; penalty. Providesthat any person who knowingly (i) engages in sexual contact withan animal; (ii) causes another person by force, threat, or intimidationto engage in sexual contact with an animal; (iii) advertises, solicits,offers, sells, purchases, or possesses an animal with the intentthat the animal be subject to sexual contact; (iv) permits sexualcontact with an animal to be conducted on any premises under hisownership or control; (v) produces, distributes, publishes, sells,transmits, finances, possesses with the intent to distribute, publish,sell, or transmit, or makes any attempt to produce, distribute, publish,sell, transmit, or finance an obscene item depicting a person engagedin sexual contact with an animal is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Thebill also provides that any person convicted of sexual abuse of ananimal may be prohibited from possessing, owning, or exercising controlover any animal for a period of up to five years and may be orderedto attend an appropriate treatment program or obtain psychiatricor psychological counseling."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 249"
citation: "Virginia SB 249 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 44
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d28979ca-fbfb-43be-8a54-1348f3a7ccb5"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB249"
source_hash: "c9bcdedd04c3513749dd3594927a3c548c9c950aa2cdcff59a86339aa65b64f8"
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 249 (2022) — Sexual abuse of animals; definitions, penalty.

Sexual abuse of animals; penalty. Providesthat any person who knowingly (i) engages in sexual contact withan animal; (ii) causes another person by force, threat, or intimidationto engage in sexual contact with an animal; (iii) advertises, solicits,offers, sells, purchases, or possesses an animal with the intentthat the animal be subject to sexual contact; (iv) permits sexualcontact with an animal to be conducted on any premises under hisownership or control; (v) produces, distributes, publishes, sells,transmits, finances, possesses with the intent to distribute, publish,sell, or transmit, or makes any attempt to produce, distribute, publish,sell, transmit, or finance an obscene item depicting a person engagedin sexual contact with an animal is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Thebill also provides that any person convicted of sexual abuse of ananimal may be prohibited from possessing, owning, or exercising controlover any animal for a period of up to five years and may be orderedto attend an appropriate treatment program or obtain psychiatricor psychological counseling.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0594** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0594)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22106117D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB249S1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 22107253D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB249H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100190D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB249)
5. **SB249ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB249ER)

## Votes

- Rereferred from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (11-Y 1-N) — **11–1** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (17-Y 3-N) — **17–3** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)
- Lionell Spruill, Sr. — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100190D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-13** Impact statement from VCSC (SB249)
- **2022-01-25** Impact statement from DPB (SB249)
- **2022-01-25** Rereferred from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (11-Y 1-N)
- **2022-01-25** Rereferred to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-31** Assigned Judiciary sub: Criminal Law `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-07** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-07** Committee substitute printed 22106117D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-07** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Impact statement from VCSC (SB249S1)
- **2022-02-08** Impact statement from DPB (SB249S1)
- **2022-02-10** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-14** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-02-14** Committee substitute agreed to 22106117D-S1
- **2022-02-14** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB249S1
- **2022-02-15** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-22** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-22** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-27** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-28** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-02** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (17-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-02** Committee substitute printed 22107253D-H1 `substitution`
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from VCSC (SB249H1)
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (SB249H1)
- **2022-03-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-07** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-07** Committee substitute agreed to 22107253D-H1
- **2022-03-07** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB249H1
- **2022-03-07** Passed House with substitute (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-07** VOTE: Passage (97-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-08** House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-08** Title replaced 22107253D-H1
- **2022-03-10** Enrolled
- **2022-03-10** Signed by President
- **2022-03-10** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB249ER)
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 594 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d28979ca-fbfb-43be-8a54-1348f3a7ccb5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).