republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-870.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sexual abuse; statute of limitations, personal action for injury to person."
description: "Statute of limitations; sexual abuse. Provides that for a cause of action accruing on or after July 1, 2020, every action for injury to the person resulting from sexual abuse shall be brought within 10 years after the cause of action accrues. This bill does not change the current 20-year statute of limitations for actions for injury to the person resulting from sexual abuse that occurred during the infancy or incapacity of such person."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 870"
citation: "Virginia HB 870 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeffrey M. Bourne"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 38
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0c2ee93e-6fe1-4483-aa77-7183153c56a4"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB870"
source_hash: "4e7f6223351a4cddbf6fbc18ef500b86ba650af07ce2abfca4222af4b5f1680a"
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 870 (2020) — Sexual abuse; statute of limitations, personal action for injury to person.

Statute of limitations; sexual abuse. Provides that for a cause of action accruing on or after July 1, 2020, every action for injury to the person resulting from sexual abuse shall be brought within 10 years after the cause of action accrues. This bill does not change the current 20-year statute of limitations for actions for injury to the person resulting from sexual abuse that occurred during the infancy or incapacity of such person.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1125)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP1125)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB870ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB870ER)
3. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB870ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB870)
4. **HB870H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB870H1)

## Votes

- Passed Senate with amendment (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Agree To (93-Y 1-N) — **92–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 96-N) — **0–95** (fail) · lower
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with amendment (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (36-Y 3-N) — **36–3** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on amendment (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jeffrey M. Bourne — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101454D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-31** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-31** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-03** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Judiciary with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Reading of amendment waived
- **2020-02-19** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-02-19** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate with amendment (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate with amendment (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-21** Senate amendment rejected by House (0-Y 96-N)
- **2020-02-21** VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 96-N)
- **2020-02-25** Senate insisted on amendment (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-25** Senate requested conference committee
- **2020-02-26** House acceded to request
- **2020-02-26** Conferees appointed by House
- **2020-02-28** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2020-03-04** Amended by conference committee
- **2020-03-04** Conference substitute printed 20109141D-H1
- **2020-03-04** Conference report agreed to by House (93-Y 1-N)
- **2020-03-04** VOTE: Agree To (93-Y 1-N)
- **2020-03-07** Conference report agreed to by Senate (36-Y 3-N)
- **2020-03-18** Enrolled
- **2020-03-18** Signed by President
- **2020-03-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-20** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 20, 2020
- **2020-03-20** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 1125 (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/0c2ee93e-6fe1-4483-aa77-7183153c56a4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).