---
type: "Bill"
title: "Local tax and regulatory incentives; green development zones."
description: "Authorizes localities to create green development zones that provide certain tax incentives and regulatory flexibility for up to 10 years to a business operating in an energy-efficient building or to a business that produces products used to reduce negative impact on the environment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1565"
citation: "Virginia HB 1565 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Conservation", "Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Taxation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Michael J. Webert"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-01"
last_action: "2017-02-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7652e87c-40e1-44cc-9143-37cfb1ad0a97"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1565"
source_hash: "f0e0db95e49f27de80d0aaf2cf7a5eaf23d93578f46804cd8e05eb33f9e11f34"
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 HB 1565 (2017) — Local tax and regulatory incentives; green development zones.

Authorizes localities to create green development zones that provide certain tax incentives and regulatory flexibility for up to 10 years to a business operating in an energy-efficient building or to a business that produces products used to reduce negative impact on the environment.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0027)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0027)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1565ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1565ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100063D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1565)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17100063D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1565E)

## Votes

- Reported from Finance — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **8–2** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **33–6** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance — **19–3** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **79–20** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Michael J. Webert — primary (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-01** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100063D `introduction`
- **2017-01-01** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Finance sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-25** Amendment by Delegate Webert agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2017-01-25** Engrossed by House as amended HB1565E
- **2017-01-25** Printed as engrossed 17100063D-E
- **2017-01-26** Read third time and passed House (79-Y 20-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-27** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-09** Passed by temporarily
- **2017-02-13** Enrolled
- **2017-02-13** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-13** Signed by President
- **2017-02-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/14/17
- **2017-02-14** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 21, 2017
- **2017-02-17** Approved by Governor-Chapter 27 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7652e87c-40e1-44cc-9143-37cfb1ad0a97`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).