republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-861.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	Best interests of the child; history of child abuse and acts of violence, etc.	Best interests of the child; act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild; history of child abuse. Provides that any act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild or any history of child abuse shall be considered by a court in determining the best interests of a child for the purposes ofa custody or visitation arrangement.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2020	HB 861	Virginia HB 861 (2020)	bill		enacted	Mark H. Levine	5	37	10	2020-01-07	2020-04-10	openstates	ocd-bill/d84d251f-fdf1-4499-9987-cbb17e89cb6d	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB861	91670f07d47de42e8c15f99d89fa34ac87b0d2ae5d0f0baa5b3885270ef5eb07	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 861 (2020) — Best interests of the child; history of child abuse and acts of violence, etc.

Best interests of the child; act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild; history of child abuse. Provides that any act of violence,force, or threat against an intimate partner or the intimate partner'schild or any history of child abuse shall be considered by a court in determining the best interests of a child for the purposes ofa custody or visitation arrangement.

Version chain

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

1. Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1074) (committee substitute) — source
2. Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB861ER) (committee substitute) — source
3. Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB861S1 (committee substitute) — source
4. Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB861S1 (committee substitute) — source
5. HB861H1 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) — 20–0 (pass) · lower
• VOTE: Adoption (98-Y 0-N) — 97–0 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• VOTE: REJECTED (2-Y 97-N) — 2–96 (fail) · lower
• Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Passed Senate with substitute (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — 98–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Senate insisted on substitute (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — 8–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Mark H. Levine — primary (person)
• Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2020-01-07 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104789D introduction
• 2020-01-07 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2020-01-22 Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
• 2020-01-27 Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2020-01-29 Read first time reading-1
• 2020-01-30 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
• 2020-01-31 Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2020-01-31 VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
• 2020-02-03 Constitutional reading dispensed
• 2020-02-03 Referred to Committee on the Judiciary referral-committee
• 2020-02-12 Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2020-02-12 Committee substitute printed 20108180D-S1 substitution
• 2020-02-14 Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
• 2020-02-17 Read third time reading-3
• 2020-02-17 Reading of substitute waived
• 2020-02-17 Committee substitute agreed to 20108180D-S1
• 2020-02-17 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB861S1
• 2020-02-17 Passed Senate with substitute (40-Y 0-N) passage
• 2020-02-19 Placed on Calendar
• 2020-02-19 Senate substitute rejected by House 20108180D-S1 (2-Y 97-N)
• 2020-02-19 VOTE: REJECTED (2-Y 97-N)
• 2020-02-21 Senate insisted on substitute (39-Y 0-N)
• 2020-02-21 Senate requested conference committee
• 2020-02-24 House acceded to request
• 2020-02-24 Conferees appointed by House
• 2020-02-25 Conferees appointed by Senate
• 2020-03-05 Amended by conference committee
• 2020-03-05 Conference substitute printed 20109724D-H1
• 2020-03-05 Conference report agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
• 2020-03-05 VOTE: Adoption (98-Y 0-N)
• 2020-03-07 Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
• 2020-03-18 Enrolled
• 2020-03-18 Signed by President
• 2020-03-19 Signed by Speaker
• 2020-03-20 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 20, 2020
• 2020-03-20 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
• 2020-04-10 Approved by Governor-Chapter 1074 (effective 7/1/20) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/d84d251f-fdf1-4499-9987-cbb17e89cb6d. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).