---
type: "Bill"
title: "Emergency relief payments; automatic exemption from creditor process."
description: "Emergency relief payments; automatic exemption from creditor process."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 1972"
citation: "Virginia HB 1972 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Leftwich"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cd6ad989-060b-4bf2-a6ce-bac22babac16"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+HB1972"
source_hash: "f8ec225ed4d66f3a96506b6a333cf12fd083f27cb63b6b6c302742679b0987a6"
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 1972 (2023) — Emergency relief payments; automatic exemption from creditor process.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0456** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0456)
2. **HB1972ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1972ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102063D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+HB1972)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary (11-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Leftwich — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102063D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-10** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-19** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N)
- **2023-01-23** Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-25** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-01-27** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-01-27** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-01-30** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2023-01-30** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-08** Reported from Judiciary (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-13** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-16** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1972ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-16** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 456 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-24** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0456)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cd6ad989-060b-4bf2-a6ce-bac22babac16`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).