---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; clerk may issue order."
description: "Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; clerk; issuance of order; bond requirement. Provides that a clerk of a circuit court may issue an order authorizing one or more persons to celebrate the rites of marriage in the Commonwealth. Under current law, only a circuit court judge may issue such an order. The bill further makes discretionary the entrance into a bond in the penalty of $500 prior to performing the rites of marriage for a person authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage; under current law, such entry is mandatory. Finally, the bill civilly immunizes the clerk of any circuit court from a cause of action arising from the issuance or rescinding of such order, absent gross negligence or willful misconduct."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 905"
citation: "Virginia HB 905 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alfonso H. Lopez"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/63053771-89a4-4245-a4ce-81ccbe0e4737"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB905"
source_hash: "8587f6b69d18e320c60414e5b0a38141ebb4da448ec4447431c3fa578123f3ff"
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 905 (2026) — Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; clerk may issue order.

Persons other than ministers who may perform rites of marriage; clerk; issuance of order; bond requirement. Provides that a clerk of a circuit court may issue an order authorizing one or more persons to celebrate the rites of marriage in the Commonwealth. Under current law, only a circuit court judge may issue such an order. The bill further makes discretionary the entrance into a bond in the penalty of $500 prior to performing the rites of marriage for a person authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage; under current law, such entry is mandatory. Finally, the bill civilly immunizes the clerk of any circuit court from a cause of action arising from the issuance or rescinding of such order, absent gross negligence or willful misconduct.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086391.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217865.PDF)
3. **Civil Subcommittee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1100655.HTML)
4. **Courts of Justice Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1199531.HTML)
5. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1131970.PDF)
6. **Senate Amendments** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1204039.HTML)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1212443.PDF)

## Votes

- Passage R — **24–16** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) — **21–1** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **75–22** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **73–24** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments — **9–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Alfonso H. Lopez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104636D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-26** Assigned HCJ sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-28** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (7-Y 1-N)
- **2026-02-04** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-09** committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-02-09** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2026-02-10** Read third time and passed House (75-Y 22-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-11** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Senate committee offered
- **2026-03-05** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-09** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-09** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-09** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Courts of Justice Amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-10** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate with amendments (24-Y 16-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Senate amendments agreed to by House (73-Y 24-N 0-A) `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB905ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 437 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0437)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/63053771-89a4-4245-a4ce-81ccbe0e4737`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).