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Civil Subcommittee

Monday, February 9, 2026·2h 16m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Civil Subcommittee advanced multiple bills on domestic relations, court modernization, and civil procedure while hotly debating two contested measures: HB 440, which passed 5-3 to Appropriations amid $88 million fiscal concerns, and HB 901 expanding Virginia's Red Flag law, whose outcome remained unclear at adjournment. Several bills were carried over to 2027 for further work.

Key Actions

·HB 901 – Substantial Risk Orders (Red Flag Law) ExpansionNo Vote

+ 12 more actions

Controversies

HB 440 – Retroactivity and fiscal impact of driving privilege suspension reform

Delegate Kilgore argued the bill lacks criteria for judges to assess good faith effort by obligors and that the retroactive subsection four would benefit those with large arrears without any accountability, stating he has seen licenses threatened prompt immediate payment of support. Delegate Ballard called retroactivity 'a non starter' and raised an $88 million fiscal impact on TANF and the Virginia Trauma Center Fund. Delegate Meta responded that criteria are included in the bill, that the $88 million predated the amendments, and that those amounts are not being collected anyway because obligors lack income.

+ 4 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“The data is clear about why more than 70% of past due child support are owed by non custodial parents earning $10,000 or less per year. In many cases this is not willful non compliance, it's a lack of income.”

Delegate Clark — Delegate Clark was making the core argument for HB 1346, a pilot program to provide employment support to noncustodial parents who owe child support, arguing that enforcement-heavy approaches fail when obligors lack income.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Report HB 440 with substitute and refer to AppropriationsPassed
No (1)Delegate Kilgore (stated he would not vote for it; other no votes not individually recorded)
Report appeal bond cap increase bill with substitute (no bill number stated)Passed
No (1)not individually Seconded
Carry over HB 1346 to 2027Passed
Carry over HB 1506 to 2027Passed
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TranscriptPreview
Call this meeting of the Courts of Justice Civil subcommittee to order. Members will indicate their presence on the electronic voting board. One more person to hit. Yes. There we go. The court will close the roll. We have a quorum so we can go ahead and do business. Delegate Delaney. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Committee. I have House Bill 1235, and I do have a substitute. Is there a motion on the substitute? Second moving. And second, we adopt the substitute as many favorite motion say aye, as opposed. The substitute is before us. Delgad Delaney. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the substitute applies to the requirement of online payment options that clerks would with such systems that already are set up for restitution and just restitution. Over the development of this bill, we learned that most of our clerks of the circuit court are utilizing systems that are hosted by the office of the Executive Secretary, and they don't have the power to turn those functions on or off. However, the ability to accept restitution is available, but not uniformly utilized across the Commonwealth. So stakeholder groups have agreed with this substitute. It's appropriate to…
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