republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-2234.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Victims of sex trafficking; affirmative defense to prosecution for certain offenses."
description: "Victims of human trafficking; affirmative defenseto prosecution for certain offenses. Provides an affirmativedefense to prosecution for prostitution and keeping, residing in,or frequenting a bawdy place if, at the time of the offense leadingto such charge, such person was a victim of human trafficking, asdefined in the bill, and (i) was coerced to engage in the offensethrough the use of force or intimidation of another, (ii) such offensewas committed as part of a commercial sex trafficking scheme, or (iii) such offense was committed at the direction of an operator of a commercialsex trafficking scheme. The bill provides that a victim of humantrafficking may raise such affirmative defense regardless of whether any other person has been arrested for, prosecuted for, charged with,or convicted of an offense."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2234"
citation: "Virginia HB 2234 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emily M. Brewer"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 48
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2021-01-13"
last_action: "2021-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b74ffaf5-e9a7-4452-976d-fccf1375cd9b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2234"
source_hash: "2ace87849f1a16d99a43658b70e3d357db191e24b1039c497d6bcb8838dcb606"
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 2234 (2021) — Victims of sex trafficking; affirmative defense to prosecution for certain offenses.

Victims of human trafficking; affirmative defenseto prosecution for certain offenses. Provides an affirmativedefense to prosecution for prostitution and keeping, residing in,or frequenting a bawdy place if, at the time of the offense leadingto such charge, such person was a victim of human trafficking, asdefined in the bill, and (i) was coerced to engage in the offensethrough the use of force or intimidation of another, (ii) such offensewas committed as part of a commercial sex trafficking scheme, or (iii) such offense was committed at the direction of an operator of a commercialsex trafficking scheme. The bill provides that a victim of humantrafficking may raise such affirmative defense regardless of whether any other person has been arrested for, prosecuted for, charged with,or convicted of an offense.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0334** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0334)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21103605D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2234H1)
3. **HB2234ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2234ER)
4. **HB2234S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2234S1)
5. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101740D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2234)

## Votes

- VOTE: Agreed To (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 96-N) — **1–95** (fail) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Emily M. Brewer — primary (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101740D `introduction`
- **2021-01-13** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB2234)
- **2021-01-21** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-27** Committee substitute printed 21103605D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-29** Committee substitute agreed to 21103605D-H1
- **2021-01-29** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2234H1
- **2021-01-31** Impact statement from DPB (HB2234H1)
- **2021-02-01** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-01** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-02** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Judiciary (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-10** Assigned Judiciary sub: Criminal Law `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-17** Reported from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-22** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-22** Floor substitute printed 21200467D-S1 (Edwards)
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-22** Substitute by Senator agreed to 21200467D-S1
- **2021-02-22** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute HB2234S1
- **2021-02-22** Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-23** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-23** Senate substitute rejected by House 21200467D-S1 (1-Y 96-N)
- **2021-02-23** VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 96-N)
- **2021-02-24** Senate insisted on substitute (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-24** Senate requested conference committee
- **2021-02-25** House acceded to request
- **2021-02-25** Conferees appointed by House
- **2021-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB2234S1)
- **2021-02-25** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2021-02-27** Amended by conference committee
- **2021-02-27** Conference report agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-27** VOTE: Agreed To (98-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-27** Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-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 (HB2234ER)
- **2021-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 334 (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/b74ffaf5-e9a7-4452-976d-fccf1375cd9b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).