Our bill has been signed by the Speaker and the President!

Great news! Our bill has been signed by the President and the Speaker... what does this mean? The next step is for our bill to be placed on Governor McDonnell's desk for his signature and then it will be a law! I am so excited about our bill. It was definitely a learning experience and we didn't get exactly what we asked for, but we did get something that's extremely important and that's the forfeiture of all assets of the abductor in international child abduction cases.

Of course the success of this law will depend on interpretation and whether it can be enforced as intended. But below is the journey our bill has taken to get where it is:

01/12/11 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/11 11102905D
01/12/11 House: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/21/11 House: Assigned Courts sub: #2 Civil
01/26/11 House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 0-N)
01/31/11 House: Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N)
01/31/11 House: Committee substitute printed 11104760D-H1
02/02/11 House: Read first time
02/03/11 House: Read second time
02/03/11 House: Committee substitute agreed to 11104760D-H1
02/03/11 House: Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2361H1
02/04/11 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N)
02/04/11 House: VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (98-Y 0-N)
02/07/11 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed
02/07/11 Senate: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
02/09/11 Senate: Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (14-Y 0-N)
02/11/11 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
02/14/11 Senate: Read third time
02/14/11 Senate: Reading of amendments waived
02/14/11 Senate: Committee amendments agreed to
02/14/11 Senate: Engrossed by Senate as amended
02/14/11 Senate: Passed Senate with amendments (40-Y 0-N)
02/15/11 House: Placed on Calendar
02/16/11 House: Senate amendments agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N)
02/16/11 House: VOTE: ADOPTION (97-Y 0-N)
02/22/11 House: Enrolled
02/22/11 House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2361ER)
02/22/11 House: Signed by Speaker
02/23/11 Senate: Signed by President