HB1942 overhauls Virginia’s money transmitter law by replacing the existing Chapter 19 of Title 6.2 with a new Chapter 19.1, effective July 1, 2026. The bill creates a comprehensive licensing and supervision framework for businesses that transmit money, issue payment instruments, sell stored value, or receive money for transmission. It defines key terms such as money transmission, stored value, virtual currency, authorized delegate, and control; requires licensure unless an exemption applies; and establishes application, renewal, ownership-change, and key-individual notice procedures through the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).
The bill also sets ongoing prudential and consumer-protection requirements for licensees. These include minimum tangible net worth standards, surety bond or other security requirements, maintenance of permissible investments equal to outstanding obligations, quarterly condition reports, annual audited financial statements, delegate reporting, recordkeeping, and prompt reporting of bankruptcy, criminal charges, and other material events. It regulates authorized delegates, prohibits subdelegation, requires receipts and customer notices, addresses payroll processing services, and authorizes the SCC to examine, investigate, suspend, revoke, fine, and issue cease-and-desist orders against licensees and others engaged in unlicensed money transmission.
In addition to the new chapter, the bill amends several related statutes to align criminal, civil, and investigative provisions with the new money transmitter chapter. Those changes update references in the racketeering/money-transmitting felony statute, subpoena and search warrant provisions for financial records, and criminal history record dissemination rules so they refer to the new chapter number. The bill also revises the existing “access partner” provisions for certain lending activities, clarifying that access partners may assist with limited loan-related functions without being separately licensed as money transmitters, while imposing contractual, recordkeeping, and supervision requirements on the lender.
The bill’s practical impact is to modernize and consolidate Virginia’s regulation of money transmitters, including businesses that operate through agents, delegates, or multistate licensing systems. It preserves existing licenses and regulations during the transition, deems current Chapter 19 licensees licensed under the new chapter on the effective date, and provides that preexisting rights, agreements, investigations, and violations remain valid under the new framework. It also expands the SCC’s administrative authority and enforcement tools, while creating clearer compliance standards for companies handling consumer funds and payment flows.
The overall sentiment appears strongly favorable and largely noncontroversial. The bill passed the House and Senate by wide margins, including unanimous or near-unanimous committee and floor votes in the Senate and a 95-3 House vote on third reading, followed by House agreement to the Senate substitute. The limited opposition suggests the measure was viewed as a technical but significant regulatory update rather than a contested policy shift. Any contention likely centered on the breadth of SCC authority, compliance costs for licensees, and the detailed operational requirements imposed on money transmitters and their delegates, but the voting history shows broad bipartisan support.
HB1942 repeals Chapter 19 of Title 6.2 and replaces it with a new Chapter 19.1 governing money transmitters, while conforming related statutes that reference money transmission, criminal process, and criminal history access. It imposes a new licensing, reporting, bonding, net-worth, investment, and enforcement regime on money transmitters and their authorized delegates, and it preserves existing licenses and regulations through a transition to the new chapter. It also updates the legal treatment of access partners in lending so they are not treated as money transmitters for limited permitted activities.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of SCC oversight, the compliance burden on money transmitters, and the detailed requirements for delegates, reporting, permissible investments, and security devices. Businesses subject to the law may have been concerned about licensing costs, examination authority, and the broad responsibility imposed on licensees for acts of authorized delegates. Another possible issue is the transition from the old chapter to the new one, though the bill includes savings clauses to preserve existing licenses, agreements, and enforcement actions.