republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-536.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Retirement System; accidental death and dismemberment benefits, definitions."
description: "Virginia Retirement System; accidental death and dismemberment benefits; definitions. Changes the funding structure for the Virginia Retirement System's obligation to fund a savings trust account for higher education for a qualifying child of a VRS member who dies as a result of an accident caused by a felonious assault committed by other than an immediate family member. The bill requires VRS to contribute to such trust account an amount equal to the current average cost, as published by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, of four years of tuition and mandatory fees at baccalaureate public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth. This requirement replaces VRS's obligation under current law to contribute to such trust account an amount equal to the full cost of a prepaid tuition contract. The bill also narrows use of the trust account to include only qualified higher education expenses to account for changes to § 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. This bill is identical to SB 109."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 536"
citation: "Virginia HB 536 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Betsy B. Carr"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-05"
last_action: "2020-03-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e5eb9334-c434-4a9f-a700-858002eaca11"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB536"
source_hash: "634996e8b809a757548db975720480915f3673a74ff9f0a837737d88f1b3d71f"
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 536 (2020) — Virginia Retirement System; accidental death and dismemberment benefits, definitions.

Virginia Retirement System; accidental death and dismemberment benefits; definitions. Changes the funding structure for the Virginia Retirement System's obligation to fund a savings trust account for higher education for a qualifying child of a VRS member who dies as a result of an accident caused by a felonious assault committed by other than an immediate family member. The bill requires VRS to contribute to such trust account an amount equal to the current average cost, as published by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, of four years of tuition and mandatory fees at baccalaureate public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth. This requirement replaces VRS's obligation under current law to contribute to such trust account an amount equal to the full cost of a prepaid tuition contract. The bill also narrows use of the trust account to include only qualified higher education expenses to account for changes to § 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. This bill is identical to SB 109.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0245)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0245)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB536ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB536ER)
3. **Impact statement from VRS (HB536)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB536)

## Votes

- VOTE: (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Betsy B. Carr — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101039D `introduction`
- **2020-01-05** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-07** Impact statement from VRS (HB536)
- **2020-01-14** Assigned App. sub: Compensation & General Government `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-22** Reported from Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-28** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-28** VOTE: (97-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-01-29** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-20** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-25** Enrolled
- **2020-02-25** Impact statement from VRS (HB536ER)
- **2020-02-25** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-26** Signed by President
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 10, 2020
- **2020-03-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 245 (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/e5eb9334-c434-4a9f-a700-858002eaca11`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).