---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; issuance of order, etc."
description: "Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; issuance of order, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 2071"
citation: "Virginia HB 2071 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lopez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 58
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-04-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fdce0210-b517-47c8-ba3a-2655d049e486"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+HB2071"
source_hash: "83ca77dce47d31aec072eaff42a0eeddea21dae62cef0e58f378e6896b3f04cd"
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 2071 (2023) — Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; issuance of order, etc.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0789** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0789)
2. **Committee substitute printed 23106508D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2071S1)
3. **HB2071ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2071ER)
4. **HB2071ER2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2071ER2)
5. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23103344D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB2071)

## Votes

- Senate insisted on substitute with amendment (30-Y 9-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (17-Y 3-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (52-Y 45-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 98-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (36-Y 4-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute with amendment (35-Y 5-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 37-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 0-N 2-A) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (59-Y 36-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lopez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23103344D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-10** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-19** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N)
- **2023-01-23** Reported from Courts of Justice (17-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-25** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-01-27** Read third time and passed House (52-Y 45-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-01-27** VOTE: Passage (52-Y 45-N) `passage`
- **2023-01-30** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2023-01-30** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB2071)
- **2023-02-08** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-02-08** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 0-N 2-A) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-08** Committee substitute printed 23106508D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-13** Reading of substitute waived
- **2023-02-13** Committee substitute agreed to 23106508D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-13** Reading of amendment waived
- **2023-02-13** Amendment by Senator McClellan agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2023-02-13** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute with amendment HB2071S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-13** Passed Senate with substitute with amendment (35-Y 5-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-14** Impact statement from DPB (HB2071S1)
- **2023-02-15** Senate substitute with amendment rejected by House 23106508D-S1 (0-Y 98-N) `amendment-failure`
- **2023-02-15** VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 98-N)
- **2023-02-17** Senate insisted on substitute with amendment (30-Y 9-N) `substitution`
- **2023-02-17** Senate requested conference committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-20** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-20** House acceded to request
- **2023-02-21** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2023-02-21** Senators: Petersen, McClellan, Obenshain
- **2023-02-21** Conferees appointed by House
- **2023-02-21** Delegates: Lopez, Campbell, J.L., Ballard
- **2023-02-24** Amended by conference committee
- **2023-02-24** Conference report agreed to by Senate (36-Y 4-N) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-24** Conference report agreed to by House (59-Y 36-N) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-24** VOTE: Adoption (59-Y 36-N)
- **2023-03-07** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-03-07** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2071ER) `passage`
- **2023-03-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB2071ER)
- **2023-03-08** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-03-08** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-13** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 13, 2023 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-27** Governor's recommendation received by House `executive-veto-line-item`
- **2023-04-12** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-04-12** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (58-Y 37-N)
- **2023-04-12** VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 37-N)
- **2023-04-12** Passed by temporarily
- **2023-04-12** Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N)
- **2023-04-12** Governor's recommendation adopted `executive-signature`
- **2023-04-12** Reenrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-04-12** Reenrolled bill text (HB2071ER2) `enrolled`
- **2023-04-12** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled `enrolled, passage`
- **2023-04-12** Signed by President as reenrolled `enrolled, passage`
- **2023-04-12** Enacted, Chapter 789 (effective 7/1/23) `became-law`
- **2023-04-12** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0789)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fdce0210-b517-47c8-ba3a-2655d049e486`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).