---
type: "Bill"
title: "Landowner liability; recreational access."
description: "Provides that a landowner who has entered into an agreement with a public entity or nonprofit organization concerning the use of his land for public recreation shall be immune from liability to a member of the public arising out of the recreational use of the land."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1224"
citation: "Virginia SB 1224 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Game", "Inland Fisheries and Boating"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard H. Stuart"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/81e91775-14a6-4ddb-9026-2d4b8eef9756"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1224"
source_hash: "645f5fff16132dae57367a709c44186e7c6d3c906adfc52af79a8222da8eaa0c"
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 SB 1224 (2017) — Landowner liability; recreational access.

Provides that a landowner who has entered into an agreement with a public entity or nonprofit organization concerning the use of his land for public recreation shall be immune from liability to a member of the public arising out of the recreational use of the land.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0366)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0366)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1224ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1224ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102744D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1224)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–1** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **36–3** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **18–4** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House — **71–25** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **14–1** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Richard H. Stuart — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102744D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-03** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-06** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-17** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Passed House (71-Y 25-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-22** Enrolled
- **2017-02-22** Signed by President
- **2017-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-23** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/23/17
- **2017-02-23** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 366 (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/81e91775-14a6-4ddb-9026-2d4b8eef9756`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).