republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-1359.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Jurisdiction of civil claims; amending amount of claim, transfer of matter, etc."
description: "Jurisdiction of civil claims; amending amountof claim; concurrent jurisdiction. Provides that, for civil actionsin which the circuit court and the general district court have concurrentjurisdiction, where a matter is pending in the circuit court, upon motion of the plaintiff seeking to decrease the amount of the claim,the circuit court shall order transfer of the matter to the generaldistrict court having jurisdiction over the claim without requiringa dismissal of the claim or a nonsuit. The bill provides that thetolling of the applicable statutes of limitations governing the pendingmatter shall be unaffected by the transfer. The bill further providesthat, except for good cause shown, no such order of transfer shallissue unless the motion to amend and transfer is made at least 10days before trial and requires that the plaintiff shall pay filingand other fees to the clerk of the court to which the case is transferred,prepare and present the order of transfer to the transferring courtfor entry, and provide a certified copy of the transfer order to the receiving court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1359"
citation: "Virginia HB 1359 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James A. \"Jay\" Leftwich"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-08"
last_action: "2020-04-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ea66cd8f-09f1-4bde-864a-a5c517f2b669"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1359"
source_hash: "4728027310b20924373af2620050d7ec3d1f3b8790981393fb08d2751fc9dd59"
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 1359 (2020) — Jurisdiction of civil claims; amending amount of claim, transfer of matter, etc.

Jurisdiction of civil claims; amending amountof claim; concurrent jurisdiction. Provides that, for civil actionsin which the circuit court and the general district court have concurrentjurisdiction, where a matter is pending in the circuit court, upon motion of the plaintiff seeking to decrease the amount of the claim,the circuit court shall order transfer of the matter to the generaldistrict court having jurisdiction over the claim without requiringa dismissal of the claim or a nonsuit. The bill provides that thetolling of the applicable statutes of limitations governing the pendingmatter shall be unaffected by the transfer. The bill further providesthat, except for good cause shown, no such order of transfer shallissue unless the motion to amend and transfer is made at least 10days before trial and requires that the plaintiff shall pay filingand other fees to the clerk of the court to which the case is transferred,prepare and present the order of transfer to the transferring courtfor entry, and provide a certified copy of the transfer order to the receiving court.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0903)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0903)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1359ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1359ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1359H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1359)
4. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1359H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1359H1)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- James A. "Jay" Leftwich — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100513D `introduction`
- **2020-01-08** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-30** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-03** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-05** Committee substitute printed 20106612D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-07** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-07** Committee substitute agreed to 20106612D-H1
- **2020-02-07** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1359H1
- **2020-02-10** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-10** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-11** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-24** Reported from Judiciary (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-25** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-26** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-26** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled
- **2020-03-03** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-04** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-09** Approved by Governor-Chapter 903 (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/ea66cd8f-09f1-4bde-864a-a5c517f2b669`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).