republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-2132.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Homicides and assaults and bodily woundings; certain matters not to constitute defenses."
description: "Homicides and assaults and bodily woundings; certain matters not to constitute defenses. Provides that the discovery of, perception of, or belief about another person's actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, is not a defense to any charge of capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, or assault and bodily wounding-related crimes and is not provocation negating or excluding malice as an element of murder."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2132"
citation: "Virginia HB 2132 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Danica A. Roem"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 44
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c879968c-ee97-4c70-9537-5f597e409dfc"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2132"
source_hash: "0fcc227fb128cc90dc014f93b9655dc8a03d960e02fe49ca1e055b5c66d01de5"
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 2132 (2021) — Homicides and assaults and bodily woundings; certain matters not to constitute defenses.

Homicides and assaults and bodily woundings; certain matters not to constitute defenses. Provides that the discovery of, perception of, or belief about another person's actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, is not a defense to any charge of capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, or assault and bodily wounding-related crimes and is not provocation negating or excluding malice as an element of murder.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0460** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0460)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21104105D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2132H1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 21200404D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2132S1)
4. **HB2132ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2132ER)
5. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102483D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2132)

## Votes

- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 2-N) — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (13-Y 8-N) — **13–8** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 1-N) — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (9-Y 5-N 1-A) — **9–5** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (58-Y 42-N) — **57–42** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (23-Y 15-N) — **23–15** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 39-N) — **57–39** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Danica A. Roem — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Chris L. Hurst — cosponsor (person)
- Dan I. Helmer — cosponsor (person)
- David A. Reid — cosponsor (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Hala S. Ayala — cosponsor (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- Joshua G. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Lee J. Carter — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
- Mark D. Sickles — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Martha M. Mugler — cosponsor (person)
- Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
- Sally L. Hudson — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)
- Suhas Subramanyam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102483D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-13** Impact statement from VCSC (HB2132)
- **2021-01-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB2132)
- **2021-01-28** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-29** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 2-N)
- **2021-02-03** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (13-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-03** Committee substitute printed 21104105D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-03** Impact statement from VCSC (HB2132H1)
- **2021-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 21104105D-H1
- **2021-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2132H1
- **2021-02-05** Read third time and passed House (58-Y 42-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-05** VOTE: Passage (58-Y 42-N)
- **2021-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB2132H1)
- **2021-02-15** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-17** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-17** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (9-Y 5-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-17** Committee substitute printed 21200404D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-17** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-18** Impact statement from VCSC (HB2132S1)
- **2021-02-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB2132S1)
- **2021-02-22** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-25** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-25** Committee substitute agreed to 21200404D-S1
- **2021-02-25** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB2132S1
- **2021-02-25** Passed Senate with substitute (23-Y 15-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-25** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-25** Senate substitute agreed to by House 21200404D-S1 (58-Y 39-N)
- **2021-02-25** VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 39-N)
- **2021-03-09** Enrolled
- **2021-03-09** Signed by President
- **2021-03-11** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-15** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 15, 2021
- **2021-03-15** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-16** Impact statement from DPB (HB2132ER)
- **2021-03-31** Approved by Governor-Chapter 460 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c879968c-ee97-4c70-9537-5f597e409dfc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).