republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-301.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Exemptions from garnishment; minimum protected account balance, certain benefit payments."
description: "Exemptions from garnishment; minimum protected account balance; certain benefit payments; procedure for financial institutions. Requires certain financial institutions to automatically exempt from garnishment (i) a minimum protected account balance, defined in the bill as the combined total of not more than $1,000 in a judgment debtor's account or across multiple accounts in the same financial institution, and (ii) a protected amount of certain benefit payments, defined in the bill, that have been deposited into the account via direct deposit or electronic deposit within the two months immediately preceding the day before a financial institution commences an account review. The bill describes an account review as a process of examining an account of a judgment conducted by a financial institution upon such financial institution's receipt of a garnishment summons to determine if any eligible benefit payments have been deposited within the applicable time period and, if so, to calculate the total sum of such benefit payments and establish the total as a protected amount that shall be automatically exempt from garnishment. The bill provides that such procedure to automatically exempt such funds shall not apply if the debt arises from a child support or spousal support obligation or if an exemption is otherwise prohibited by law.The bill further provides that a judgment debtor is not required to claim nor request a hearing for such automatic exemptions. Finally, the bill makes updates to the relevant provisions governing garnishment proceedings, notices to the garnishee and judgment debtor, and the form of a garnishment summons consistent with the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to HB 601."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 301"
citation: "Virginia SB 301 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Schuyler T. VanValkenburg"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/55d47823-662e-49f7-8a61-97871edd035a"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB301"
source_hash: "74ba7e79907b31f67b1fbc4d5ed955a04f2dbaf941e353aef06f119e0e95dd30"
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 301 (2026) — Exemptions from garnishment; minimum protected account balance, certain benefit payments.

Exemptions from garnishment; minimum protected account balance; certain benefit payments; procedure for financial institutions. Requires certain financial institutions to automatically exempt from garnishment (i) a minimum protected account balance, defined in the bill as the combined total of not more than $1,000 in a judgment debtor's account or across multiple accounts in the same financial institution, and (ii) a protected amount of certain benefit payments, defined in the bill, that have been deposited into the account via direct deposit or electronic deposit within the two months immediately preceding the day before a financial institution commences an account review. The bill describes an account review as a process of examining an account of a judgment conducted by a financial institution upon such financial institution's receipt of a garnishment summons to determine if any eligible benefit payments have been deposited within the applicable time period and, if so, to calculate the total sum of such benefit payments and establish the total as a protected amount that shall be automatically exempt from garnishment. The bill provides that such procedure to automatically exempt such funds shall not apply if the debt arises from a child support or spousal support obligation or if an exemption is otherwise prohibited by law.The bill further provides that a judgment debtor is not required to claim nor request a hearing for such automatic exemptions. Finally, the bill makes updates to the relevant provisions governing garnishment proceedings, notices to the garnishee and judgment debtor, and the form of a garnishment summons consistent with the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to HB 601.

## 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/1088872.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1221679.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1138163.HTML)
4. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139624.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177065.PDF)

## Votes

- Passage R — **21–19** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments — **8–6** (pass) · upper
- Rereferred from Commerce and Labor — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **18–4** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **81–15** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Schuyler T. VanValkenburg — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26105000D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-26** Rereferred from Commerce and Labor to Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-09** Senate committee offered
- **2026-02-09** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (8-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-10** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-10** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-11** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-11** Courts of Justice Amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-02-11** Engrossed by Senate as amended (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-12** Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-17** Placed on Calendar
- **2026-02-17** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-17** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-18** Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-23** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-23** Passed House (81-Y 15-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-24** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-24** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB301ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-24** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-24** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 638 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-13** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0638)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/55d47823-662e-49f7-8a61-97871edd035a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).