republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-262.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Immigration status; prohibiting inquiry into status of certain victims or witnesses of crimes."
description: "Inquiry and report of immigration status; certain victims or witnesses of crimes. Prohibits law-enforcement officers from inquiring into the immigration status of a person who (i) reports that he is a victim of a crime or a parent or guardian of a minor victim of a crime or (ii) is a witness in the investigation of a crime or the parent or guardian of a minor witness to a crime. However, a law-enforcement officer is not prohibited from making such an inquiry if it is necessary for the enforcement or implementation of certain criminal provisions or if the parent or guardian has been arrested for, has been charged with, or is being investigated for a crime against the minor victim."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 262"
citation: "Virginia HB 262 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alfonso H. Lopez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 34
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-12-30"
last_action: "2020-03-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e7d85075-4b56-458f-8e86-a79282f9fd53"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB262"
source_hash: "2a87ef604a8f9eaa75d5d43f1e6778a1877ff24dd9dfbec96bc6b2fab184348d"
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 262 (2020) — Immigration status; prohibiting inquiry into status of certain victims or witnesses of crimes.

Inquiry and report of immigration status; certain victims or witnesses of crimes. Prohibits law-enforcement officers from inquiring into the immigration status of a person who (i) reports that he is a victim of a crime or a parent or guardian of a minor victim of a crime or (ii) is a witness in the investigation of a crime or the parent or guardian of a minor witness to a crime. However, a law-enforcement officer is not prohibited from making such an inquiry if it is necessary for the enforcement or implementation of certain criminal provisions or if the parent or guardian has been arrested for, has been charged with, or is being investigated for a crime against the minor victim.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0273)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0273)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB262ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB262ER)
3. **Engrossed by House as amended HB262E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB262)
4. **Engrossed by House as amended HB262E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB262E)
5. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB262S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB262S1)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (6-Y 1-N) — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (20-Y 19-N) — **20–19** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (14-Y 5-N) — **14–5** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (9-Y 6-N) — **9–6** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (57-Y 42-N) — **56–42** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (54-Y 42-N) — **53–42** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Alfonso H. Lopez — primary (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-12-30** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101667D `introduction`
- **2019-12-30** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-26** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (6-Y 1-N)
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (14-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2020-02-05** Engrossed by House as amended HB262E
- **2020-02-05** Printed as engrossed 20101667D-E
- **2020-02-06** Impact statement from DPB (HB262E)
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House (57-Y 42-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Passage (57-Y 42-N)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (9-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-17** Committee substitute printed 20108387D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-19** Committee substitute agreed to 20108387D-S1
- **2020-02-19** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB262S1
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate with substitute (20-Y 19-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-21** Senate substitute agreed to by House 20108387D-S1 (54-Y 42-N)
- **2020-02-21** VOTE: Adoption (54-Y 42-N)
- **2020-02-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB262S1)
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled
- **2020-02-26** Impact statement from DPB (HB262ER)
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 5, 2020
- **2020-03-05** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 273 (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/e7d85075-4b56-458f-8e86-a79282f9fd53`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).