---
type: "Bill"
title: "Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; localities may establish, duties, effective date."
description: "Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies. Authorizes a locality to establish a law-enforcement civilian oversight body that may (i) receive, investigate, and issue findings on complaints from civilians regarding conduct of law-enforcement officers and civilian employees; (ii) investigate and issue findings on incidents, including the use of force by a law-enforcement officer, death or serious injury to any person held in custody, serious abuse of authority or misconduct, allegedly discriminatory stops, and other incidents regarding the conduct of law-enforcement officers or civilian employees; (iii) make binding disciplinary determinations in cases that involve serious breaches of departmental and professional standards; (iv) investigate policies, practices, and procedures of law-enforcement agencies and make recommendations regarding changes to such policies, practices, and procedures; (v) review all investigations conducted internally by law-enforcement agencies and issue findings regarding the accuracy, completeness, and impartiality of such investigations and the sufficiency of any discipline resulting from such investigations; (vi) request reports of the annual expenditures of law-enforcement agencies and make budgetary recommendations; (vii) make public reports on the activities of the law-enforcement civilian oversight body; and (viii) undertake any other duties as reasonably necessary for the law-enforcement civilian oversight body to effectuate its lawful purpose to effectively oversee the law-enforcement agencies as authorized by the locality. Such oversight bodies are not authorized to oversee sheriff's departments. The bill provides that a law-enforcement officer who is subject to a binding disciplinary determination may file a grievance requesting a final hearing pursuant to the locality's local grievance procedures. The bill also provides that a retired law-enforcement officer may serve on such law-enforcement civilian oversight body as an advisory, nonvoting ex officio member. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021, and is identical to SB 5035."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020specialI"
identifier: "HB 5055"
citation: "Virginia HB 5055 (2020specialI)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 6
action_count: 52
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2020-08-18"
last_action: "2020-10-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b85c7037-cfe1-40ce-b57a-23057cb9ba7a"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+HB5055"
source_hash: "f074930a54dbac7e9b551e5597d66caaa532922d4c20d88b2a03eda9988dae1d"
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 5055 (2020specialI) — Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; localities may establish, duties, effective date.

Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies. Authorizes a locality to establish a law-enforcement civilian oversight body that may (i) receive, investigate, and issue findings on complaints from civilians regarding conduct of law-enforcement officers and civilian employees; (ii) investigate and issue findings on incidents, including the use of force by a law-enforcement officer, death or serious injury to any person held in custody, serious abuse of authority or misconduct, allegedly discriminatory stops, and other incidents regarding the conduct of law-enforcement officers or civilian employees; (iii) make binding disciplinary determinations in cases that involve serious breaches of departmental and professional standards; (iv) investigate policies, practices, and procedures of law-enforcement agencies and make recommendations regarding changes to such policies, practices, and procedures; (v) review all investigations conducted internally by law-enforcement agencies and issue findings regarding the accuracy, completeness, and impartiality of such investigations and the sufficiency of any discipline resulting from such investigations; (vi) request reports of the annual expenditures of law-enforcement agencies and make budgetary recommendations; (vii) make public reports on the activities of the law-enforcement civilian oversight body; and (viii) undertake any other duties as reasonably necessary for the law-enforcement civilian oversight body to effectuate its lawful purpose to effectively oversee the law-enforcement agencies as authorized by the locality. Such oversight bodies are not authorized to oversee sheriff's departments. The bill provides that a law-enforcement officer who is subject to a binding disciplinary determination may file a grievance requesting a final hearing pursuant to the locality's local grievance procedures. The bill also provides that a retired law-enforcement officer may serve on such law-enforcement civilian oversight body as an advisory, nonvoting ex officio member. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021, and is identical to SB 5035.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0029)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+CHAP0029)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB5055ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+HB5055ER)
3. **HB5055H2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+HB5055H2)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB5055H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+HB5055)
5. **Impact statement from DPB (HB5055H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+HB5055H1)
6. **Impact statement from DPB (HB5055S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+HB5055S1)

## Votes

- Passed Senate with substitute (20-Y 19-N) — **20–19** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N) — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (7-Y 2-N) — **7–2** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on substitute (21-Y 15-N) — **21–15** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 4-N) — **11–4** (pass) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (21-Y 18-N) — **21–18** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (1-Y 92-N) — **1–91** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Pass By (54-Y 41-N) — **53–41** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Agreed To (53-Y 35-N) — **52–35** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Public Safety with substitute (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (53-Y 45-N) — **52–45** (pass) · lower

## Timeline

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

- **2020-08-18** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 08/18/20 20200472D `introduction`
- **2020-08-18** Referred to Committee on Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2020-08-25** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-08-25** Reported from Public Safety with substitute (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-08-25** Committee substitute printed 20200962D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-08-25** Substitute bill reprinted 20200962D-H1
- **2020-08-27** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-08-28** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-08-28** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-08-28** Impact statement from DPB (HB5055H1)
- **2020-08-28** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-08-28** Committee substitute agreed to 20200962D-H1
- **2020-08-28** Amendment by Delegate Wilt passed by (54-Y 41-N)
- **2020-08-28** VOTE: Pass By (54-Y 41-N)
- **2020-08-28** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB5055H1
- **2020-09-03** Read third time and passed House (53-Y 45-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-09-03** VOTE: Passage (53-Y 45-N)
- **2020-09-04** Impact statement from DHCD/CLG (HB5055)
- **2020-09-04** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-09-04** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-09-16** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (7-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-09-16** Committee substitute printed 20201194D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-09-16** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-09-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB5055S1)
- **2020-09-24** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-09-25** Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N)
- **2020-10-01** Passed by temporarily
- **2020-10-01** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-10-01** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-10-01** Committee substitute agreed to
- **2020-10-01** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB5055S1
- **2020-10-01** Passed Senate with substitute (20-Y 19-N) `passage`
- **2020-10-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-10-02** Senate substitute rejected by House (1-Y 92-N)
- **2020-10-02** VOTE: Adoption (1-Y 92-N)
- **2020-10-07** Senate insisted on substitute (21-Y 15-N)
- **2020-10-07** Senate requested conference committee
- **2020-10-07** House acceded to request
- **2020-10-07** Conferees appointed by House
- **2020-10-07** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2020-10-14** Amended by conference committee
- **2020-10-14** Conference substitute printed 20201374D-H2
- **2020-10-14** Conference report agreed to by Senate (21-Y 18-N)
- **2020-10-14** Conference report agreed to by House (53-Y 35-N)
- **2020-10-14** VOTE: Agreed To (53-Y 35-N)
- **2020-10-16** Enrolled
- **2020-10-16** Impact statement from DPB (HB5055ER)
- **2020-10-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-10-16** Signed by President
- **2020-10-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on October 21, 2020
- **2020-10-21** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., October 28, 2020
- **2020-10-28** Approved by Governor-Chapter 29 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b85c7037-cfe1-40ce-b57a-23057cb9ba7a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).