republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020speciali/sb-5117.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Emergency Services and Disaster Law; powers and duties of the Governor, executive orders, penalty."
description: "Emergency Services and Disaster Law; powers and duties of the Governor; executive orders; penalty. Provides that a violation of an executive order declared by the Governor as the Director of Emergency Management shall be punishable either as a civil penalty of not more than $500 or as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Under current law, the only penalty for such a violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also mandates that a violation of an executive order that is punishable as a civil penalty shall be charged by summons and may be executed by a law-enforcement officer when such violation is observed by the officer. The proceeds of any such civil penalty that is imposed shall be paid and collected only in lawful money of the United States and paid into the state treasury to the credit of the Literary Fund. This bill has an expiration date of June 30, 2023, and is identical to HB 5093."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020specialI"
identifier: "SB 5117"
citation: "Virginia SB 5117 (2020specialI)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-08-19"
last_action: "2020-10-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8957c107-92c4-4f7d-8721-42ded4177934"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+SB5117"
source_hash: "96e9e878678a1899fb1d548d72f262a0d3a3b6e77dcd59c2dc3d626eaf5791df"
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 5117 (2020specialI) — Emergency Services and Disaster Law; powers and duties of the Governor, executive orders, penalty.

Emergency Services and Disaster Law; powers and duties of the Governor; executive orders; penalty. Provides that a violation of an executive order declared by the Governor as the Director of Emergency Management shall be punishable either as a civil penalty of not more than $500 or as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Under current law, the only penalty for such a violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also mandates that a violation of an executive order that is punishable as a civil penalty shall be charged by summons and may be executed by a law-enforcement officer when such violation is observed by the officer. The proceeds of any such civil penalty that is imposed shall be paid and collected only in lawful money of the United States and paid into the state treasury to the credit of the Literary Fund. This bill has an expiration date of June 30, 2023, and is identical to HB 5093.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0015)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+CHAP0015)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB5117ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+SB5117ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB5117)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+ful+SB5117)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 17-N) — **21–17** (pass) · upper
- House amendment agreed to by Senate (22-Y 16-N) — **22–16** (pass) · upper
- Failed to report (defeated) in General Laws and Technology (7-Y 7-N) — **7–7** (fail) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (9-Y 5-N) — **9–5** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Public Safety with amendment (21-Y 1-N) — **21–1** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (56-Y 41-N) — **55–41** (pass) · lower

## Timeline

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

- **2020-08-19** Presented and ordered printed 20200839D `introduction`
- **2020-08-19** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2020-08-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB5117)
- **2020-08-27** Failed to report (defeated) in General Laws and Technology (7-Y 7-N)
- **2020-08-31** Reconsidered by General Laws and Technology
- **2020-08-31** Reported from General Laws and Technology (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-09-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-09-03** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-09-04** Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 17-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-09-17** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-09-17** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-09-17** Referred to Committee on Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2020-09-21** Reported from Public Safety with amendment (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-09-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-09-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-09-25** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-09-25** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2020-09-25** Passed House with amendment (56-Y 41-N) `passage`
- **2020-09-25** VOTE: Adoption (56-Y 41-N)
- **2020-10-02** House amendment agreed to by Senate (22-Y 16-N)
- **2020-10-07** Enrolled
- **2020-10-07** Impact statement from DPB (SB5117ER)
- **2020-10-07** Signed by President
- **2020-10-07** Signed by Speaker
- **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 15 (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/8957c107-92c4-4f7d-8721-42ded4177934`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).