---
type: "Bill"
title: "Watercraft; transfer by operation of law, transfer on death."
description: "States that a watercraft may be transferred by operation of law through the execution of a statement of transfer on death."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2796"
citation: "Virginia HB 2796 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Game", "Inland Fisheries and Boating"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David E. Yancey"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-18"
last_action: "2019-03-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/514b06e4-9091-4105-866b-9b1301c2d1ff"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2796"
source_hash: "457f3b9b8de7b9a57b164982acb952304f799f2365918cfd8ce4392a9f975336"
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 2796 (2019) — Watercraft; transfer by operation of law, transfer on death.

States that a watercraft may be transferred by operation of law through the execution of a statement of transfer on death.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0236)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0236)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2796)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2796ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2796ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105444D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2796H1)
5. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19105290D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2796)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **13–1** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David E. Yancey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-18** Presented and ordered printed 19105290D `introduction`
- **2019-01-18** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-22** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-30** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-30** Committee substitute agreed to 19105444D-H1
- **2019-01-30** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2796H1
- **2019-01-31** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-01** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-14** Enrolled
- **2019-02-14** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-14** Signed by President
- **2019-02-18** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 18, 2019
- **2019-02-18** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 236 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/514b06e4-9091-4105-866b-9b1301c2d1ff`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).