republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-1659.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Child abuse and neglect; mandatory reporters.	Adds to the list of persons who are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, and duly accredited practitioners of any religious organization or denomination usually referred to as a church; however, the bill exempts such clergy members from the mandatory reporting requirement when the information supporting the suspicion of child abuse or neglect (i) is required by the doctrine of the religious organization or denomination to be kept confidential or (ii) would be subject to the exemptions set forth in § 8.01-400 or 19.2-271.3 if offered as evidence in court. This bill is identical to	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2019	HB 1659	Virginia HB 1659 (2019)	bill	Welfare (Social Services)	enacted	Karrie K. Delaney	4	31	13	2018-12-01	2019-03-18	openstates	ocd-bill/ec36c44c-272c-4c1c-a7a5-8cfca598f0ce	http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1659	7ad295ed31384788ef9c0b82746a8f23b3120d389297ed5bf7a6644776806377	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 1659 (2019) — Child abuse and neglect; mandatory reporters.

Adds to the list of persons who are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, and duly accredited practitioners of any religious organization or denomination usually referred to as a church; however, the bill exempts such clergy members from the mandatory reporting requirement when the information supporting the suspicion of child abuse or neglect (i) is required by the doctrine of the religious organization or denomination to be kept confidential or (ii) would be subject to the exemptions set forth in § 8.01-400 or 19.2-271.3 if offered as evidence in court. This bill is identical to

Version chain

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

1. Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0414) (committee substitute) — source
2. House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1659ER) (committee substitute) — source
3. House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100396D (committee substitute) — source
4. Senate amendments engrossed (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Reported from Courts of Justice — 18–0 (pass) · lower
• Conference report agreed to by House — 99–0 (pass) · lower
• Subcommittee recommends reporting — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Finance — 12–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Appropriations — 21–0 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendment — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting — 6–0 (pass) · lower
• Conference report agreed to by Senate — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Senate insisted on amendment — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — 99–0 (pass) · lower
• Senate amendment rejected by House — 1–95 (fail) · lower
• Passed Senate with amendment — 40–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Karrie K. Delaney — primary (person)
• Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
• Charniele L. Herring — cosponsor (person)
• Danica A. Roem — cosponsor (person)
• David A. Reid — cosponsor (person)
• David W. Marsden — cosponsor (person)
• Debra H. Rodman — cosponsor (person)
• Delores L. McQuinn — cosponsor (person)
• Janet D. Howell — cosponsor (person)
• Jeffrey M. Bourne — cosponsor (person)
• Jill Holtzman Vogel — cosponsor (person)
• Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
• Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
• Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
• Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
• Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
• Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)
• Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
• Vivian E. Watts — cosponsor (person)
• Wendy W. Gooditis — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2018-12-01 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100396D introduction
• 2018-12-01 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2019-01-24 Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #4 referral-committee
• 2019-01-28 Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
• 2019-01-30 Referred to Committee on Appropriations referral-committee
• 2019-01-31 Assigned App. sub: Health & Human Resources referral-committee
• 2019-02-03 Read first time reading-1
• 2019-02-04 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
• 2019-02-05 Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2019-02-06 Constitutional reading dispensed
• 2019-02-06 Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services referral-committee
• 2019-02-08 Rereferred to Finance referral-committee
• 2019-02-14 Read third time reading-3
• 2019-02-14 Reading of amendment waived
• 2019-02-14 Committee amendment agreed to
• 2019-02-14 Engrossed by Senate as amended
• 2019-02-18 Placed on Calendar
• 2019-02-18 Senate amendment rejected by House (1-Y 95-N)
• 2019-02-19 Senate requested conference committee
• 2019-02-20 House acceded to request
• 2019-02-20 Conferees appointed by House
• 2019-02-21 Conferees appointed by Senate
• 2019-02-21 Amended by conference committee
• 2019-02-21 Conference report agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
• 2019-02-22 Passed by temporarily
• 2019-03-07 Enrolled
• 2019-03-07 Signed by Speaker
• 2019-03-09 Signed by President
• 2019-03-11 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2019
• 2019-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
• 2019-03-18 Approved by Governor-Chapter 414 (effective 7/1/19) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/ec36c44c-272c-4c1c-a7a5-8cfca598f0ce. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).