---
type: "Bill"
title: "Investment of public funds; ratings agencies."
description: "Investment of public funds; ratings agencies. Allows ratings by Fitch Ratings to be used for determining whether certain investments are permissible for public funds. Under current law, only ratings by Standard & Poor's or Moody's Investors Service may be used. The bill contains technical amendments, including the removal of obsolete references to ratings by Duff & Phelps."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1587"
citation: "Virginia HB 1587 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patrick A. Hope"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-14"
last_action: "2020-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e8b0562a-a6ec-4a92-af14-b915f7de3ac0"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1587"
source_hash: "7764cd7bce4727a1b7bf44965cd31bbb31c474010814ad8f1096881403bab6d7"
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 1587 (2020) — Investment of public funds; ratings agencies.

Investment of public funds; ratings agencies. Allows ratings by Fitch Ratings to be used for determining whether certain investments are permissible for public funds. Under current law, only ratings by Standard & Poor's or Moody's Investors Service may be used. The bill contains technical amendments, including the removal of obsolete references to ratings by Duff & Phelps.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0333)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0333)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1587ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1587ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB1587)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1587)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB1587H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1587H1)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws with substitute (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 1-N) — **15–1** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (35-Y 0-N) — **35–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Patrick A. Hope — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-14** Presented and ordered printed 20105250D `introduction`
- **2020-01-14** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-22** Assigned GL sub: Professions/Occupations and Adminstrative Process `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Impact statement from DPB (HB1587)
- **2020-01-30** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-30** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-04** Committee substitute printed 20107152D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-04** Reported from General Laws with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-06** Impact statement from DPB (HB1587H1)
- **2020-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 20107152D-H1
- **2020-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1587H1
- **2020-02-07** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-07** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-10** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-19** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** Passed Senate (35-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled
- **2020-02-26** Impact statement from DPB (HB1587ER)
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 5, 2020
- **2020-03-05** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 333 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e8b0562a-a6ec-4a92-af14-b915f7de3ac0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).