---
type: "Bill"
title: "Judges; increases from six to seven the maximum number in the Thirty-first Judicial Circuit."
description: "Maximum number of judges in each judicial circuit. Increases from six to seven the maximum number of authorized judges in the Thirty-first Judicial Circuit. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council of Virginia and is identical to HB 821."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 6"
citation: "Virginia SB 6 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-11-29"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d2f501cc-ed95-4e2d-9c0e-27faf0b13076"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB6"
source_hash: "ca2d48db74bc23d781bbe94190cfe7770c64214c47ea37a0f1583641f2d42392"
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 6 (2022) — Judges; increases from six to seven the maximum number in the Thirty-first Judicial Circuit.

Maximum number of judges in each judicial circuit. Increases from six to seven the maximum number of authorized judges in the Thirty-first Judicial Circuit. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council of Virginia and is identical to HB 821.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0579** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0579)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100512D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB6)
3. **SB6ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB6ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (35-Y 4-N) — **35–4** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (35-Y 5-N) — **35–5** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (12-Y 4-N) — **12–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)
- Briana D. Sewell — cosponsor (person)
- Dan I. Helmer — cosponsor (person)
- Danica A. Roem — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
- George L. Barker — cosponsor (person)
- Jeremy S. McPike — cosponsor (person)
- John J. Bell — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Luke E. Torian — cosponsor (person)
- Richard H. Stuart — cosponsor (person)
- Suhas Subramanyam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-11-29** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100512D `introduction`
- **2021-11-29** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-19** Reported from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-19** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-21** Impact statement from DPB (SB6)
- **2022-02-02** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (12-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-04** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-02-07** Read third time and passed Senate (35-Y 4-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-07** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-07** Passed Senate (35-Y 5-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-21** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-21** Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-24** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-24** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-28** Enrolled
- **2022-02-28** Impact statement from DPB (SB6ER)
- **2022-02-28** Signed by President
- **2022-02-28** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 579 (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/d2f501cc-ed95-4e2d-9c0e-27faf0b13076`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).