---
type: "Bill"
title: "General district courts; increases jurisdictional limits."
description: "General district courts; jurisdictional limits. Increases from $25,000 to $50,000 the maximum civil jurisdictional limit of general district courts for all civil actions. Under current law, only civil actions for personal injury or wrongful death have a maximum jurisdictional limit of $50,000. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 1291"
citation: "Virginia SB 1291 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark J. Peake"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-01-08"
last_action: "2025-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8a9ab999-64f6-48ff-a590-d140167701a4"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/SB1291"
source_hash: "51c695a31f341c11b75249811bdd2a1c9597c53521a0220d13447df5bb63e4f6"
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 SB 1291 (2025) — General district courts; increases jurisdictional limits.

General district courts; jurisdictional limits. Increases from $25,000 to $50,000 the maximum civil jurisdictional limit of general district courts for all civil actions. Under current law, only civil actions for personal injury or wrongful death have a maximum jurisdictional limit of $50,000. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1018819.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1072802.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1051534.PDF)

## Votes

- Passed House (96-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark J. Peake — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25100257D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-08** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-22** Reported from Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-24** Rules suspended
- **2025-01-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (37-Y 0-N)
- **2025-01-24** Passed by for the day
- **2025-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-01-27** Engrossed by Senate
- **2025-01-28** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-31** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB1291)
- **2025-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2025-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-06** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-07** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-10** Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-13** Passed House (96-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-18** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-02-18** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1291ER) `passage`
- **2025-02-18** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB1291)
- **2025-02-18** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-20** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-03** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 `enrolled`
- **2025-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 338 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-21** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0338)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8a9ab999-64f6-48ff-a590-d140167701a4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).