---
type: "Bill"
title: "Circuit court clerk's fee; lodging, etc., of wills."
description: "Circuit court clerk's fee; lodging of wills. Increases from $2 to $5 the fee that the circuit court clerk is required to charge for lodging, indexing, and preserving a will. This bill is identical to SB 940."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 305"
citation: "Virginia HB 305 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patrick A. Hope"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-12-31"
last_action: "2020-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7ca93f14-5e11-4c8d-9089-24b197020144"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB305"
source_hash: "c8282d70dc94fa66fea26b207995efbf3a41f0f1427d62b08449f19ef702fe40"
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 305 (2020) — Circuit court clerk's fee; lodging, etc., of wills.

Circuit court clerk's fee; lodging of wills. Increases from $2 to $5 the fee that the circuit court clerk is required to charge for lodging, indexing, and preserving a will. This bill is identical to SB 940.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0068)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0068)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB305ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB305ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB305)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB305)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (79-Y 20-N) — **78–20** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 2-N) — **20–2** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary (12-Y 1-N) — **12–1** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (36-Y 4-N) — **36–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Patrick A. Hope — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-12-31** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102664D `introduction`
- **2019-12-31** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-22** Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-28** Read third time and passed House (79-Y 20-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-28** VOTE: Passage (79-Y 20-N)
- **2020-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-01-29** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-10** Impact statement from DPB (HB305)
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Judiciary (12-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (36-Y 4-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Enrolled
- **2020-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-20** Impact statement from DPB (HB305ER)
- **2020-02-20** Signed by President
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 24, 2020
- **2020-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 2, 2020
- **2020-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 68 (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/7ca93f14-5e11-4c8d-9089-24b197020144`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).