republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020speciali/sb-5033.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Court authority in criminal cases; prosecutorial discretion to dispose of a criminal case."
description: "Court authority in criminal cases; prosecutorial discretion to dispose of a criminal case. Requires a court to grant a motion to dismiss made by the Commonwealth, whether with or without prejudice, and with the consent of the defendant unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the motion was made as the result of (i) bribery or (ii) bias or prejudice toward a victim because of the race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin of the victim. The bill provides that, upon the agreement of the Commonwealth and the defendant, a trial court may defer proceedings; defer entry of a conviction order, if none, or defer entry of a final order; and continue the case for final disposition, on such reasonable terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the parties."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020specialI"
identifier: "SB 5033"
citation: "Virginia SB 5033 (2020specialI)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 5
action_count: 34
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-08-13"
last_action: "2020-10-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/14f22ee0-8674-4ceb-a2a3-f3c3274cd734"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+SB5033"
source_hash: "5687da52d30379e0d8869aa1899c71772a6c3d71c25c515da4b4db52461c8b0d"
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 SB 5033 (2020specialI) — Court authority in criminal cases; prosecutorial discretion to dispose of a criminal case.

Court authority in criminal cases; prosecutorial discretion to dispose of a criminal case. Requires a court to grant a motion to dismiss made by the Commonwealth, whether with or without prejudice, and with the consent of the defendant unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the motion was made as the result of (i) bribery or (ii) bias or prejudice toward a victim because of the race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin of the victim. The bill provides that, upon the agreement of the Commonwealth and the defendant, a trial court may defer proceedings; defer entry of a conviction order, if none, or defer entry of a final order; and continue the case for final disposition, on such reasonable terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the parties.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0020)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+CHAP0020)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB5033ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+SB5033ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB5033H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+SB5033H1)
4. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB5033S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+SB5033)
5. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB5033S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+SB5033S1)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 2-N 1-A) — **12–2** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (31-Y 7-N) — **31–7** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (53-Y 44-N) — **52–44** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (30-Y 6-N) — **30–6** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (34-Y 0-N) — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (13-Y 7-N) — **13–7** (pass) · lower

## Timeline

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

- **2020-08-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 08/18/20 20200573D `introduction`
- **2020-08-13** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-08-20** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-08-20** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 2-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2020-08-20** Committee substitute printed 20200796D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-08-26** Constitutional reading dispensed (34-Y 0-N)
- **2020-08-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-08-27** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-08-27** Committee substitute agreed to 20200796D-S1
- **2020-08-27** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB5033S1
- **2020-08-28** Read third time and passed Senate (30-Y 6-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-09-01** Impact statement from DPB (SB5033S1)
- **2020-09-17** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-09-17** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-09-17** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-09-22** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-09-22** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (13-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-09-22** Committee substitute printed 20201236D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-09-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-09-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-09-25** Committee substitute agreed to 20201236D-H1
- **2020-09-25** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB5033H1
- **2020-09-25** Passed House with substitute (53-Y 44-N) `passage`
- **2020-09-25** VOTE: Adoption (53-Y 44-N)
- **2020-09-29** Impact statement from DPB (SB5033H1)
- **2020-10-02** House substitute agreed to by Senate (31-Y 7-N)
- **2020-10-02** Title replaced 20201236D-H1
- **2020-10-07** Enrolled
- **2020-10-07** Signed by President
- **2020-10-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-10-08** Impact statement from DPB (SB5033ER)
- **2020-10-14** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on October 14, 2020
- **2020-10-14** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., October 21, 2020
- **2020-10-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 20 (effective 3/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/14f22ee0-8674-4ceb-a2a3-f3c3274cd734`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).