---
type: "Bill"
title: "Reformulated gasoline; sale for farm use."
description: "Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to seek an exemption from the federal reformulated gasoline (RFG) program for conventional, ethanol-free gasoline sold and delivered for use in farm motor vehicles. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 899"
citation: "Virginia SB 899 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Animal Care and Food", "Motor Fuels", "Motor Vehicles"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill R. DeSteph, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2016-12-22"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ab79ffd9-e723-4540-b2a8-ccc347a8d521"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB899"
source_hash: "8ba67ee451a4232e80dd7872d21af112b105aec52aeb3cd70c12f73f1d052231"
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 899 (2017) — Reformulated gasoline; sale for farm use.

Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to seek an exemption from the federal reformulated gasoline (RFG) program for conventional, ethanol-free gasoline sold and delivered for use in farm motor vehicles. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0545)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0545)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105270D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB899H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB899ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB899ER)
4. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101130D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB899)

## Votes

- Senate acceded to request — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **38–2** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **94–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- House substitute rejected by Senate — **1–39** (fail) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **11–2** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Bill R. DeSteph, Jr. — primary (person)
- Barry D. Knight — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-22** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101130D `introduction`
- **2016-12-22** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-17** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-30** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-30** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 17105270D-H1
- **2017-02-10** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB899H1
- **2017-02-10** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-15** House insisted on substitute
- **2017-02-15** House requested conference committee
- **2017-02-17** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-20** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-24** Amended by conference committee
- **2017-02-24** Conference report agreed to by House (94-Y 0-N)
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 545 (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/ab79ffd9-e723-4540-b2a8-ccc347a8d521`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).