---
type: "Bill"
title: "Capital murder; punishment if against law-enforcement officers and fire marshals."
description: "Provides that any person convicted of capital murder of a law-enforcement officer or certain other public safety officials who was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense shall be sentenced to no less than a mandatory minimum term of confinement for life. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2615"
citation: "Virginia HB 2615 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes and Offenses Generally", "Police"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Todd E. Pillion"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 25
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-09"
last_action: "2019-04-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9cb592df-053f-4c71-b26f-7eae97288437"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2615"
source_hash: "a53285525c1d28da47c1156b75d13f31bb86fca9adead284c29d4bf430d8775c"
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 2615 (2019) — Capital murder; punishment if against law-enforcement officers and fire marshals.

Provides that any person convicted of capital murder of a law-enforcement officer or certain other public safety officials who was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense shall be sentenced to no less than a mandatory minimum term of confinement for life. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0835)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0835)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2615)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2615ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2615ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19106312D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2615H1)
5. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19103652D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2615)
6. **House: Reenrolled bill text (HB2615ER2)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2615ER2)

## Votes

- House concurred in Governor's recommendation — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **21–18** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **10–4** (pass) · upper
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation — **34–4** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Todd E. Pillion — primary (person)
- Barry D. Knight — cosponsor (person)
- C. Matthew Fariss — cosponsor (person)
- Charles D. Poindexter — cosponsor (person)
- Dave A. LaRock — cosponsor (person)
- David E. Yancey — cosponsor (person)
- Emily M. Brewer — cosponsor (person)
- Gordon C. Helsel, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Israel D. O'Quinn — cosponsor (person)
- James E. Edmunds, II — cosponsor (person)
- Jason S. Miyares — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph P. McNamara — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret B. Ransone — cosponsor (person)
- Nick Rush — cosponsor (person)
- R. Lee Ware — cosponsor (person)
- R. Steven Landes — cosponsor (person)
- Robert B. Bell — cosponsor (person)
- Robert M. "Bob" Thomas, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Ronnie R. Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Roxann L. Robinson — cosponsor (person)
- Terry L. Austin — cosponsor (person)
- Thomas C. Wright, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Timothy D. Hugo — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-09** Presented and ordered printed 19103652D `introduction`
- **2019-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-15** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 19106312D-H1
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2615H1
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-15** Enrolled
- **2019-02-15** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-15** Signed by President
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 19, 2019
- **2019-02-19** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-21** Governor's recommendation received by House
- **2019-04-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-04-03** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (96-Y 0-N)
- **2019-04-03** Governor's recommendation adopted
- **2019-04-03** Reenrolled
- **2019-04-03** Reenrolled bill text (HB2615ER2)
- **2019-04-03** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
- **2019-04-03** Signed by President as reenrolled
- **2019-04-03** Enacted, Chapter 835 (effective 7/1/19) `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9cb592df-053f-4c71-b26f-7eae97288437`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).