republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-1213.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Summonses; authority of local government employees to issue for violations of local ordinances."
description: "Authority of local government employees to issue summonses for misdemeanor violations of local ordinances. Permits localities to appoint and train local government employees to enforce local ordinances by issuing summonses for misdemeanor violations of ordinances that are within the scope of the employee's employment with the exception of traffic offenses and those offenses set forth in Title 18.2, Crimes and Offenses Generally. The bill provides that such employees shall not have the power and authority of constables at common law and their power shall be limited to issuing such summonses in their locality."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1213"
citation: "Virginia HB 1213 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Steve E. Heretick"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 36
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3d34abfe-2502-4ed1-a55b-9b17a58b1867"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1213"
source_hash: "74b0bec29d6a94bcf9f6ef19c1d62405c48e75051816a471d071b017d35a65c0"
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 1213 (2020) — Summonses; authority of local government employees to issue for violations of local ordinances.

Authority of local government employees to issue summonses for misdemeanor violations of local ordinances. Permits localities to appoint and train local government employees to enforce local ordinances by issuing summonses for misdemeanor violations of ordinances that are within the scope of the employee's employment with the exception of traffic offenses and those offenses set forth in Title 18.2, Crimes and Offenses Generally. The bill provides that such employees shall not have the power and authority of constables at common law and their power shall be limited to issuing such summonses in their locality.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0144)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0144)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1213ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1213ER)
3. **Engrossed by House as amended HB1213E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1213E)
4. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1213S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1213S1)
5. **Impact statement from DHCD (HB1213)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1213)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Steve E. Heretick — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102237D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-18** Impact statement from DHCD (HB1213)
- **2020-01-24** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-27** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2020-02-05** Amendment by Delegate Heretick agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Engrossed by House as amended HB1213E
- **2020-02-05** Printed as engrossed 20102237D-E
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-12** Committee substitute printed 20108191D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-17** Committee substitute agreed to 20108191D-S1
- **2020-02-17** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1213S1
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate with substitute (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-19** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108191D-S1 (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** VOTE: Adoption (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Enrolled
- **2020-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-24** Signed by President
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 26, 2020
- **2020-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 4, 2020
- **2020-03-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 144 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3d34abfe-2502-4ed1-a55b-9b17a58b1867`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).