republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-17.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Fines and costs; period of limitations on collection, responsibility for collections."
description: "Fines and costs; period of limitations on collection; deferred payment agreement. Changes the period of limitations for the collection of court fines and costs from within 60 years from the date of the offense or delinquency giving rise to imposition of such penalty if imposed by a circuit court or within 30 years if imposed by a general district court to within 10 years from the date of the judgment whether imposed by a circuit court or general district court. The bill provides that upon the expiration of the period of limitations, no action shall be brought to collect the debt.The bill extends the time period for commencing collection activity from 90 days to 180 days after judgment, but provides that no collection activity shall be commenced while a defendant is incarcerated on an active term of imprisonment and subject to a deferred payment agreement.The bill also provides that for any defendant sentenced to an active term of incarceration and ordered to pay any fine, cost, forfeiture, or penalty related to the charge that such defendant is incarcerated for, or any other charge for which such defendant was sentenced on the same day, the court shall enter such defendant into a deferred payment agreement for such fines, costs, forfeitures, or penalties. The bill requires the due date for such deferred payment agreement to be set no earlier than 180 days after the defendant's scheduled release from incarceration on the charge for which such defendant was sentenced on the same day. This bill is identical to SB 180. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 17"
citation: "Virginia HB 17 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marcia S. \"Cia\" Price"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 40
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2025-12-22"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7c29e75c-3ef2-4f7a-b773-c78e87658579"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB17"
source_hash: "147da70f94e5bead6f8dda9a882d7ec8a827cce03c18d369985adcafaff154c8"
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 17 (2026) — Fines and costs; period of limitations on collection, responsibility for collections.

Fines and costs; period of limitations on collection; deferred payment agreement. Changes the period of limitations for the collection of court fines and costs from within 60 years from the date of the offense or delinquency giving rise to imposition of such penalty if imposed by a circuit court or within 30 years if imposed by a general district court to within 10 years from the date of the judgment whether imposed by a circuit court or general district court. The bill provides that upon the expiration of the period of limitations, no action shall be brought to collect the debt.The bill extends the time period for commencing collection activity from 90 days to 180 days after judgment, but provides that no collection activity shall be commenced while a defendant is incarcerated on an active term of imprisonment and subject to a deferred payment agreement.The bill also provides that for any defendant sentenced to an active term of incarceration and ordered to pay any fine, cost, forfeiture, or penalty related to the charge that such defendant is incarcerated for, or any other charge for which such defendant was sentenced on the same day, the court shall enter such defendant into a deferred payment agreement for such fines, costs, forfeitures, or penalties. The bill requires the due date for such deferred payment agreement to be set no earlier than 180 days after the defendant's scheduled release from incarceration on the charge for which such defendant was sentenced on the same day. This bill is identical to SB 180. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1081992.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217634.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1101087.HTML)
4. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1186475.PDF)
5. **Criminal Subcommittee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1093316.HTML)
6. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1108365.PDF)
7. **Finance and Appropriations Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1191935.PDF)
8. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1203352.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) — **16–4** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **21–19** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations — **17–5** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **65–33** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute — **10–5** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **66–32** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **9–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — primary (person)
- Alex Q. Askew — cosponsor (person)
- Bonita G. Anthony — cosponsor (person)
- Charlie Schmidt — cosponsor (person)
- Destiny LeVere Bolling — cosponsor (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
- Jessica L. Anderson — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Katrina Callsen — cosponsor (person)
- Laura Jane Cohen — cosponsor (person)
- Lily V. Franklin — cosponsor (person)
- Marty Martinez — cosponsor (person)
- Michael B. Feggans — cosponsor (person)
- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Rae Cousins — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
- Stacey Annie Carroll — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-12-22** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102055D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-12-22** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-20** Assigned HCJ sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) and referring to Appropriations (9-Y 1-N)
- **2026-01-28** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) and referred to Appropriations (16-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-29** Assigned HAPP sub: General Government and Capital Outlay `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-30** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 1-N)
- **2026-02-02** Reported from Appropriations (17-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-05** committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-02-05** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2026-02-06** Read third time and passed House (66-Y 32-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-06** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB17)
- **2026-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-25** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-27** Committee substitute printed 26108696D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-03-02** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB17)
- **2026-03-03** Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-03** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-03** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-04** Committee substitute printed 26109052D-S2 `substitution`
- **2026-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-04** Courts of Justice Substitute rejected
- **2026-03-04** Finance and Appropriations Substitute agreed to
- **2026-03-04** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-03-04** Passed Senate with substitute (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-06** Senate substitute agreed to by House (65-Y 33-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-13** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-13** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB17ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-13** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-13** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-26** Fiscal Impact statement From DPB (3/26/2026 10:21 am)
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter355 (Effective 1/1/2027) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0355)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7c29e75c-3ef2-4f7a-b773-c78e87658579`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).