HB 163 VA

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Notarization, filing, and recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent; acknowledgement and satisfactory evidence of identity; requirements for commission or recommission of notary; clerk of circuit court to establish property alert notification system. Removes personal knowledge of identity from the methods by which a notary public, electronic notary public, or other person authorized by law to perform a notarial act may identify an individual for purposes of performing a notarial act such as acknowledgement or affirmation. Under current law, the identity of an individual for such purpose may be established if such individual is personally known to the person performing the notarial act or by a presentation of satisfactory evidence of identity, as defined by law. The bill also adds a requirement that, within the six months immediately preceding the submission of his application, a person applying for commission to be a notary public or electronic notary public, or an existing notary public or electronic notary public applying for recommission, complete a course of instruction developed and approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The bill specifies that one hour of such course of instruction shall be on the topic of real estate fraud and financial exploitation of elderly persons and shall include training on current trends on such topics and on recognizing instances of such fraud or financial exploitation. The bill directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth to develop the curricula for such courses of instruction by January 1, 2027, and has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027, for those provisions related to the requirement that applicants for commission and recommission complete and present proof of completion of such courses of instruction. The bill also requires any clerk of a circuit court that has established a network or system of electronic filing of land records to also establish a property alert notification system for owners of real property within the circuit court's jurisdiction. The bill provides that an owner who enrolls his real property into such property alert notification system may do so at no cost and that such system shall send notifications to such owner when documents affecting or purporting to affect the enrolled property are filed with the clerk's office. The provisions related to the establishment of the property alert notification system have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. Finally, the bill requires notaries public to keep a record of all notarial acts occurring on or after July 1, 2026, and to include in such record the form of satisfactory evidence of identification used to verify the identity of the principal and credible witnesses. Similarly, the bill requires settlement agents responsible for recording deeds, deeds of trust, or other documents relating to land records to obtain satisfactory evidence of identity of a seller of real property prior to settlement. This bill is identical to SB 316.

• Marcus B. Simon Democratic · primary

1. Jan 6, 2026 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104586D · lower
2. Jan 6, 2026 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice · lower
3. Jan 19, 2026 Assigned HCJ sub: Civil · lower
4. Jan 21, 2026 House subcommittee offered · lower
5. Jan 21, 2026 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N) · lower
6. Jan 28, 2026 Committee substitute printed 26105742D-H1 · lower
7. Jan 28, 2026 Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) · lower
8. Jan 28, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163) · lower
9. Jan 30, 2026 Read first time · lower
10. Feb 2, 2026 Read second time · lower
11. Feb 2, 2026 committee substitute agreed to · lower
12. Feb 2, 2026 Engrossed by House - committee substitute · lower
13. Feb 3, 2026 Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) · lower
14. Feb 4, 2026 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) · upper
15. Feb 4, 2026 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice · upper
16. Feb 6, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163) · lower
17. Feb 18, 2026 Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N) · upper
18. Feb 25, 2026 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) · upper
19. Feb 26, 2026 Rules suspended · upper
20. Feb 26, 2026 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) · upper
21. Feb 26, 2026 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) · upper
22. Feb 27, 2026 Read third time · upper
23. Feb 27, 2026 Passed Senate (37-Y 0-N 0-A) · upper
24. Mar 4, 2026 Enrolled · lower
25. Mar 4, 2026 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB163ER) · lower
26. Mar 4, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163) · lower
27. Mar 4, 2026 Signed by Speaker · lower
28. Mar 4, 2026 Signed by President · upper
29. Mar 10, 2026 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 · lower
30. Mar 10, 2026 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 · executive
31. Apr 8, 2026 Approved by Governor-Chapter364 (Effective - see bill) · executive
32. Apr 8, 2026 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0364) · executive

The published texts of this bill as it moves through the legislature. Each links to the official document on the state legislature site. Data from OpenStates.

• Chaptered · PDF
• Chaptered · HTML
• Enrolled · PDF
• Enrolled · HTML
• Courts of Justice Substitute · PDF
• Courts of Justice Substitute · HTML
• Courts of Justice Substitute · PDF
• Courts of Justice Substitute · HTML
• Civil Subcommittee Substitute · PDF
• Civil Subcommittee Substitute · HTML
• Introduced · PDF
• Introduced · HTML