---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; former statewide legislators."
description: "Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; former statewide legislators and officials; clerk of a circuit court. Adds any (i) former member of the General Assembly; (ii) former Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General of the Commonwealth; or (iii) current or former clerk of a circuit court of the Commonwealth who is a resident of the Commonwealth to the list of persons who may perform the rites of marriage in the Commonwealth without the necessity of bond or order of authorization."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 175"
citation: "Virginia SB 175 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill DeSteph"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 34
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2024-01-08"
last_action: "2024-04-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2d85f919-79b4-4cad-8175-ed538c895548"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB175"
source_hash: "48c07e663262eb8f75a391cf2c3d63320b7d1ae310751a40b7e6021209a6a349"
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 175 (2024) — Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; former statewide legislators.

Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; former statewide legislators and officials; clerk of a circuit court. Adds any (i) former member of the General Assembly; (ii) former Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General of the Commonwealth; or (iii) current or former clerk of a circuit court of the Commonwealth who is a resident of the Commonwealth to the list of persons who may perform the rites of marriage in the Commonwealth without the necessity of bond or order of authorization.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0499** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0499)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24101009D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB175)
3. **Printed as engrossed 24101009D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB175E)
4. **SB175ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB175ER)

## Votes

- House amendment agreed to by Senate (35-Y 5-N) — **35–5** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (34-Y 3-N) — **34–3** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (91-Y 8-N) — **90–8** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (20-Y 0-N) — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill DeSteph — primary (person)
- Christie New Craig — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24101009D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-08** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-10** Moved from Judiciary to Courts of Justice due to a change of the committee name
- **2024-02-07** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-09** Reading of amendments waived
- **2024-02-09** Committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-09** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB175E
- **2024-02-09** Printed as engrossed 24101009D-E
- **2024-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Passed Senate (34-Y 3-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-15** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-15** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-15** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-23** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-28** Committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-28** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2024-02-28** Passed House with amendment (91-Y 8-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** VOTE: Passage (91-Y 8-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-01** House amendment agreed to by Senate (35-Y 5-N) `amendment-passage`
- **2024-03-06** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-06** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB175ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-06** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 499 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-04** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0499)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2d85f919-79b4-4cad-8175-ed538c895548`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).