republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1945.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Adult exploitation; broadens definition for purposes of social services laws."
description: "Broadens the definition of \"adult exploitation\" for the purposes of social services laws to include the unauthorized, improper, or fraudulent use of an adult 60 years of age or older, or 18 years of age or older who is incapacitated, or his funds, property, benefits, or other assets for the benefit of another, including a caregiver or person serving in a fiduciary capacity, or that deprives the adult of his rightful use of or access to such funds, property, benefits, or other assets. The bill provides that \"adult exploitation\" includes (i) an intentional breach of a fiduciary obligation to an adult to his detriment or an intentional failure to use the financial resources of an adult in a manner that results in neglect of such adult; (ii) the acquisition, possession, or control of an adult's financial resources or property through the use of undue influence, coercion, or duress; and (iii) forcing or coercing an adult to pay for goods or services or perform services against his will for another's profit, benefit, or advantage if the adult did not agree, or was tricked, misled, or defrauded into agreeing, to pay for such goods or services or to perform such services. In addition, the requirement that such adult 60 years of age or older be incapacitated is removed from the definition, and the bill amends the definitions of \"adult abuse,\" \"adult neglect,\" and \"adult protective services\" to apply to adults 60 years of age or older, or 18 years of age or older who are incapacitated. The bill also broadens the definition of \"financial institution staff\" for the purposes of protecting aged or incapacitated adults to include any employee, agent, qualified individual, or representative of a bank, trust company, savings institution, loan association, consumer finance company, credit union, investment company, investment advisor, securities firm, accounting firm, or insurance company."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1945"
citation: "Virginia HB 1945 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Welfare (Social Services)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Christopher K. Peace"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 20
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-02-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/98dc0d17-e75d-49cd-b5d5-9247ec79bb84"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1945"
source_hash: "77d82d0653bfa54b505a023c22bc6fb5ac5216d6d58d49a17fc09bc551655b23"
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 1945 (2017) — Adult exploitation; broadens definition for purposes of social services laws.

Broadens the definition of "adult exploitation" for the purposes of social services laws to include the unauthorized, improper, or fraudulent use of an adult 60 years of age or older, or 18 years of age or older who is incapacitated, or his funds, property, benefits, or other assets for the benefit of another, including a caregiver or person serving in a fiduciary capacity, or that deprives the adult of his rightful use of or access to such funds, property, benefits, or other assets. The bill provides that "adult exploitation" includes (i) an intentional breach of a fiduciary obligation to an adult to his detriment or an intentional failure to use the financial resources of an adult in a manner that results in neglect of such adult; (ii) the acquisition, possession, or control of an adult's financial resources or property through the use of undue influence, coercion, or duress; and (iii) forcing or coercing an adult to pay for goods or services or perform services against his will for another's profit, benefit, or advantage if the adult did not agree, or was tricked, misled, or defrauded into agreeing, to pay for such goods or services or to perform such services. In addition, the requirement that such adult 60 years of age or older be incapacitated is removed from the definition, and the bill amends the definitions of "adult abuse," "adult neglect," and "adult protective services" to apply to adults 60 years of age or older, or 18 years of age or older who are incapacitated. The bill also broadens the definition of "financial institution staff" for the purposes of protecting aged or incapacitated adults to include any employee, agent, qualified individual, or representative of a bank, trust company, savings institution, loan association, consumer finance company, credit union, investment company, investment advisor, securities firm, accounting firm, or insurance company.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0195)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0195)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1945ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1945ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104836D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1945H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101758D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1945)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations — **20–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Christopher K. Peace — primary (person)
- James M. LeMunyon — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101758D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-17** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-26** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2017-01-31** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Assigned App. sub: Health & Human Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 17104836D-H1
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1945H1
- **2017-02-07** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-16** Enrolled
- **2017-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-17** Signed by President
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
- **2017-02-17** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
- **2017-02-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 195 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/98dc0d17-e75d-49cd-b5d5-9247ec79bb84`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).