---
type: "Bill"
title: "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Director of; position created."
description: "Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;position created. Establishes the position of Director of Diversity,Equity, and Inclusion (the Director), to be appointed by the Governor. The Director is empowered to (i) develop a sustainable frameworkto promote inclusive practices across state government; (ii) implementa measurable, strategic plan to address systemic inequities in stategovernment practices; and (iii) facilitate methods to turn feedbackand suggestions from state employees, external stakeholders, andcommunity leaders into concrete equity policy."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 394"
citation: "Virginia HB 394 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeion A. Ward"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-02"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8cb70c75-a233-4c6f-b74f-7b6b020cd3b7"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB394"
source_hash: "134b24ce13a7dd0d8029680b3946abdcfed175b7f6ca9c484ebaf6300b2be5b2"
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 394 (2020) — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Director of; position created.

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;position created. Establishes the position of Director of Diversity,Equity, and Inclusion (the Director), to be appointed by the Governor. The Director is empowered to (i) develop a sustainable frameworkto promote inclusive practices across state government; (ii) implementa measurable, strategic plan to address systemic inequities in stategovernment practices; and (iii) facilitate methods to turn feedbackand suggestions from state employees, external stakeholders, andcommunity leaders into concrete equity policy.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0712)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0712)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB394ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB394ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB394)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB394)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws (17-Y 5-N) — **17–5** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (68-Y 32-N) — **67–32** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 2-N) — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (12-Y 0-N) — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (31-Y 2-N) — **31–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jeion A. Ward — primary (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102312D `introduction`
- **2020-01-02** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB394)
- **2020-01-15** Assigned GL sub: Professions/Occupations and Adminstrative Process `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-30** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 2-N)
- **2020-02-04** Reported from General Laws (17-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-06** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-07** Read third time and passed House (68-Y 32-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-07** VOTE: Passage (68-Y 32-N)
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-10** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-19** Reported from General Laws and Technology (12-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-19** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-26** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-27** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-28** Passed Senate (31-Y 2-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (HB394ER)
- **2020-03-06** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-06** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 712 (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/8cb70c75-a233-4c6f-b74f-7b6b020cd3b7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).