republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1297.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Emergency order for adult protective services; acts of violence, etc., or financial exploitation."
description: "Emergency order for adult protective services;acts of violence, force, or threat or financial exploitation; penalty.Allows the circuit court, upon a finding that an incapacitated adulthas been, within a reasonable period of time, subjected to an actof violence, force, or threat or been subjected to financial exploitation,to include in an emergency order for adult protective services oneor more of the following conditions to be imposed on the alleged perpetrator: (i) a prohibition on acts of violence, force, or threator criminal offenses that may result in injury to person or property;(ii) a prohibition on such other contacts by the alleged perpetratorwith the adult or the adult's family or household members as thecourt deems necessary for the health and safety of such persons; or(iii) such other conditions as the court deems necessary to prevent(a) acts of violence, force, or threat; (b) criminal offenses thatmay result in injury to persons or property; (c) communication orother contact of any kind by the alleged perpetrator; or (d) financialexploitation by the alleged perpetrator. The bill provides that anyperson who violates any such condition is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.Also, the bill provides that hearings on emergency orders for adultprotective services shall be held no earlier than 24 hours and nolater than 72 hours after the notice required has been given, unlesssuch notice has been waived by the court. Current law just requiressuch hearing be held no earlier than 24 hours."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1297"
citation: "Virginia SB 1297 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark D. Obenshain"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ff46871c-63d7-424e-800d-7d03d4e19a50"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1297"
source_hash: "1ae25ce1c618b0f68a9c666cf3ac51ce442db8ed58189947a44e1e1b516d41ce"
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 1297 (2021) — Emergency order for adult protective services; acts of violence, etc., or financial exploitation.

Emergency order for adult protective services;acts of violence, force, or threat or financial exploitation; penalty.Allows the circuit court, upon a finding that an incapacitated adulthas been, within a reasonable period of time, subjected to an actof violence, force, or threat or been subjected to financial exploitation,to include in an emergency order for adult protective services oneor more of the following conditions to be imposed on the alleged perpetrator: (i) a prohibition on acts of violence, force, or threator criminal offenses that may result in injury to person or property;(ii) a prohibition on such other contacts by the alleged perpetratorwith the adult or the adult's family or household members as thecourt deems necessary for the health and safety of such persons; or(iii) such other conditions as the court deems necessary to prevent(a) acts of violence, force, or threat; (b) criminal offenses thatmay result in injury to persons or property; (c) communication orother contact of any kind by the alleged perpetrator; or (d) financialexploitation by the alleged perpetrator. The bill provides that anyperson who violates any such condition is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.Also, the bill provides that hearings on emergency orders for adultprotective services shall be held no earlier than 24 hours and nolater than 72 hours after the notice required has been given, unlesssuch notice has been waived by the court. Current law just requiressuch hearing be held no earlier than 24 hours.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0208** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0208)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21200173D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1297H1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102422D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1297)
4. **SB1297ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1297ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark D. Obenshain — primary (person)
- Scott A. Surovell — cosponsor (person)
- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102422D `introduction`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-22** Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-25** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-01-27** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-02** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice
- **2021-02-12** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-12** Committee substitute printed 21200173D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-12** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-16** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-17** Committee substitute agreed to 21200173D-H1
- **2021-02-17** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1297H1
- **2021-02-17** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-17** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-19** House substitute agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-19** Title replaced 21200173D-H1
- **2021-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (SB1297H1)
- **2021-02-24** Enrolled
- **2021-02-24** Signed by President
- **2021-02-25** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (SB1297ER)
- **2021-02-26** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 26, 2021
- **2021-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 208 (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/ff46871c-63d7-424e-800d-7d03d4e19a50`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).