republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-579.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; changes to provisions."
description: "Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry.Makes numerous changes to the provisions governing the Sex Offenderand Crimes Against Minors Registry. The bill changes the number ofclassifications of offenders who are required to register under theRegistry to match the number of classifications under federal lawand redesignates the classifications as Tier I, Tier II, and TierIII offenses. The bill also streamlines the reregistration process,eliminates the need for lower-level offenders to reregister annually,and allows offenders to electronically verify their registrationinformation. Finally, the bill allows the Virginia State Police touse public records to determine a victim's age if the victim's ageis not contained in the judgment of conviction in order to determinewhether a person is required to register under the Registry."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 579"
citation: "Virginia SB 579 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Janet D. Howell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/78cd8eb3-d6c6-4fff-a596-ea6c9ef596d5"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB579"
source_hash: "088c0e503bcab28a62da981962b6cae9b8f6e12cb8dedb12de1daf637e3fc19a"
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 579 (2020) — Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; changes to provisions.

Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry.Makes numerous changes to the provisions governing the Sex Offenderand Crimes Against Minors Registry. The bill changes the number ofclassifications of offenders who are required to register under theRegistry to match the number of classifications under federal lawand redesignates the classifications as Tier I, Tier II, and TierIII offenses. The bill also streamlines the reregistration process,eliminates the need for lower-level offenders to reregister annually,and allows offenders to electronically verify their registrationinformation. Finally, the bill allows the Virginia State Police touse public records to determine a victim's age if the victim's ageis not contained in the judgment of conviction in order to determinewhether a person is required to register under the Registry.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0829)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0829)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB579ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB579ER)
3. **Impact statement from VCSC (SB579)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB579)
4. **Impact statement from VCSC (SB579S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB579S1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (96-Y 0-N) — **95–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Janet D. Howell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20105075D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-09** Impact statement from VCSC (SB579)
- **2020-01-29** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Committee substitute printed 20107056D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-31** Impact statement from VCSC (SB579S1)
- **2020-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-03** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 20107056D-S1
- **2020-02-03** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB579S1
- **2020-02-04** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-18** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-18** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-18** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB579S1)
- **2020-02-28** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-28** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-02** Reported from Courts of Justice (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-05** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-05** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (96-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-05** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (96-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled
- **2020-03-12** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB579ER)
- **2020-03-17** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 17, 2020
- **2020-03-17** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-07** Approved by Governor-Chapter 829 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/78cd8eb3-d6c6-4fff-a596-ea6c9ef596d5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).