republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2655.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Eviction Diversion Pilot Program; established, report."
description: "Establishes the Eviction Diversion Pilot Program (the Program), consisting of specialized dockets within the existing structure of the general district courts for the cities of Danville, Hampton, Petersburg, and Richmond. The Program is established as a pilot program that has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2020, and that expires on July 1, 2023. The purpose of the Program is to reduce the number of evictions of low-income persons. Parties to an unlawful detainer action in participating jurisdictions will be directed to participate in the Pilot Program upon certain findings by the court. The Virginia Housing Commission (the Commission) shall request data from the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia for the evaluation of the Program's effectiveness and potential benefits and costs. The bill tasks the Commission with making recommendations for legislative action to the General Assembly, the Chairmen of the Senate Committees on Finance, General Laws and Technology, and Courts of Justice, and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations, Finance, General Laws, and Courts of Justice prior to the 2023 Session. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2655"
citation: "Virginia HB 2655 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Christopher E. Collins"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-01-11"
last_action: "2019-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2d6dc60a-aee5-4f56-be7d-43618e512d80"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2655"
source_hash: "15708941296968f74ef1540af940b95d5602bcecc8a2b1b8dbbad1f9fd1c9a8a"
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 2655 (2019) — Eviction Diversion Pilot Program; established, report.

Establishes the Eviction Diversion Pilot Program (the Program), consisting of specialized dockets within the existing structure of the general district courts for the cities of Danville, Hampton, Petersburg, and Richmond. The Program is established as a pilot program that has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2020, and that expires on July 1, 2023. The purpose of the Program is to reduce the number of evictions of low-income persons. Parties to an unlawful detainer action in participating jurisdictions will be directed to participate in the Pilot Program upon certain findings by the court. The Virginia Housing Commission (the Commission) shall request data from the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia for the evaluation of the Program's effectiveness and potential benefits and costs. The bill tasks the Commission with making recommendations for legislative action to the General Assembly, the Chairmen of the Senate Committees on Finance, General Laws and Technology, and Courts of Justice, and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations, Finance, General Laws, and Courts of Justice prior to the 2023 Session. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0355)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0355)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2655ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2655ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 19106239D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2655H1)
4. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19104077D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2655)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Christopher E. Collins — primary (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Lashrecse D. Aird — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-11** Presented and ordered printed 19104077D `introduction`
- **2019-01-11** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 19106239D-H1
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2655H1
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled
- **2019-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 21, 2019
- **2019-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 355 (effective - see bill) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2d6dc60a-aee5-4f56-be7d-43618e512d80`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).