republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1234.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	Virginia State Bar examination; foreign applicants, evidence required.	Attorneys; granting certificates without examination. Provides that the Supreme Court of Virginia shall have the discretionto grant a certificate to practice law without examination to anattorney who has (i) been admitted to practice law before the courtof last resort of any state or territory of the United States orthe District of Columbia for at least two years; (ii) made at leastsix pro hac vice appearances in a court in the Commonwealth, whetherstate or federal; and (iii) obtained a juris doctor or LL.M. degreefrom an accredited law school in the United States that was approvedby the American Bar Association.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2021	SB 1234	Virginia SB 1234 (2021)	bill		enacted	J. Chapman Petersen	5	38	9	2021-01-11	2021-03-18	openstates	ocd-bill/9ac1ccca-a336-4153-b0c4-d83c512bd0f5	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1234	1acc1342e2fb500368e3f26f804b51c506118bb3a1c3eb568042d203033bb05d	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 1234 (2021) — Virginia State Bar examination; foreign applicants, evidence required.

Attorneys; granting certificates without examination. Provides that the Supreme Court of Virginia shall have the discretionto grant a certificate to practice law without examination to anattorney who has (i) been admitted to practice law before the courtof last resort of any state or territory of the United States orthe District of Columbia for at least two years; (ii) made at leastsix pro hac vice appearances in a court in the Commonwealth, whetherstate or federal; and (iii) obtained a juris doctor or LL.M. degreefrom an accredited law school in the United States that was approvedby the American Bar Association.

Version chain

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

1. CHAP0296 (committee substitute) — source
2. Committee substitute printed 21104012D-S1 (committee substitute) — source
3. Committee substitute printed 21200229D-H1 (committee substitute) — source
4. Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100935D (committee substitute) — source
5. SB1234ER (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice — 0–0 (fail) · lower
• Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N) — 7–1 (pass) · lower
• House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N) — 36–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — 96–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• J. Chapman Petersen — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2021-01-11 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100935D introduction
• 2021-01-11 Referred to Committee on the Judiciary referral-committee
• 2021-02-01 Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
• 2021-02-01 Committee substitute printed 21104012D-S1 substitution
• 2021-02-01 Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2021-02-02 Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-03 Read second time reading-2
• 2021-02-03 Reading of substitute waived
• 2021-02-03 Committee substitute agreed to 21104012D-S1
• 2021-02-03 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1234S1
• 2021-02-03 Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-03 Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) passage
• 2021-02-05 Placed on Calendar
• 2021-02-05 Read first time reading-1
• 2021-02-05 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice referral-committee
• 2021-02-08 Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice
• 2021-02-12 Impact statement from DPB (SB1234S1)
• 2021-02-16 Assigned Courts sub: Civil referral-committee
• 2021-02-17 House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
• 2021-02-17 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N)
• 2021-02-20 Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2021-02-20 Committee substitute printed 21200229D-H1 substitution
• 2021-02-22 Impact statement from DPB (SB1234H1)
• 2021-02-23 Read second time reading-2
• 2021-02-24 Read third time reading-3
• 2021-02-24 Committee substitute agreed to 21200229D-H1
• 2021-02-24 Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1234H1
• 2021-02-24 Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) passage
• 2021-02-24 VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-25 House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-25 Title replaced 21200229D-H1
• 2021-03-09 Enrolled
• 2021-03-09 Impact statement from DPB (SB1234ER)
• 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
• 2021-03-18 Approved by Governor-Chapter 296 (effective 7/1/21) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/9ac1ccca-a336-4153-b0c4-d83c512bd0f5. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).