---
type: "Bill"
title: "Taxes on income, wills, and administrations; exemption for victims of the Va. Beach mass shooting."
description: "Taxes on wills and administrations; exemption for victims of the Virginia Beach mass shooting. Establishes an exemption from probate tax for a person killed or injured in the 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting. The bill provides that if, prior to its enactment, a person eligible for a tax exemption pursuant to the bill paid tax to the Commonwealth or a locality for a will or grant of administration of a victim's estate, either the Commonwealth or the locality, as applicable, shall refund the tax. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to SB 93."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 839"
citation: "Virginia HB 839 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/65fbbed3-e3eb-4fa5-8e19-ca75027600b3"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB839"
source_hash: "ec0e00d7af786a632d219ff704c88651d80d4d91573135a1def5e2f2810f1228"
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 839 (2020) — Taxes on income, wills, and administrations; exemption for victims of the Va. Beach mass shooting.

Taxes on wills and administrations; exemption for victims of the Virginia Beach mass shooting. Establishes an exemption from probate tax for a person killed or injured in the 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting. The bill provides that if, prior to its enactment, a person eligible for a tax exemption pursuant to the bill paid tax to the Commonwealth or a locality for a will or grant of administration of a victim's estate, either the Commonwealth or the locality, as applicable, shall refund the tax. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to SB 93.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0249)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0249)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB839ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB839ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB839H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB839H1)
4. **Impact statement from TAX (HB839)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB839)

## Votes

- Reported from Finance with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — primary (person)
- Alex Q. Askew — cosponsor (person)
- Glenn R. Davis — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104484D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-20** Impact statement from TAX (HB839)
- **2020-01-22** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-22** Reported from Finance with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-22** Committee substitute printed 20106479D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-22** Incorporates HB53 (Knight)
- **2020-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-27** Committee substitute agreed to 20106479D-H1
- **2020-01-27** Emergency clause added
- **2020-01-27** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB839H1
- **2020-01-28** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-28** VOTE: (97-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-01-29** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-11** Impact statement from TAX (HB839H1)
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-20** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-25** Enrolled
- **2020-02-25** Impact statement from TAX (HB839ER)
- **2020-02-25** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-26** Signed by President
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 10, 2020
- **2020-03-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 249 (effective 3/10/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/65fbbed3-e3eb-4fa5-8e19-ca75027600b3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).