---
type: "Bill"
title: "Removal of blight; building collapse; emergency."
description: "Allows a locality to charge owners of property the cost the locality incurred in removing or repairing a building or structure on such property if permitted under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code in the event of an emergency."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 919"
citation: "Virginia SB 919 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Housing"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John S. Edwards"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 32
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2016-12-27"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/39001d28-184c-4076-80f0-63311376a08a"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB919"
source_hash: "16b1cc0bbb7db4655cb70a27939f4b5a3de62f5895f6b9ecdf28660020fde082"
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 919 (2017) — Removal of blight; building collapse; emergency.

Allows a locality to charge owners of property the cost the locality incurred in removing or repairing a building or structure on such property if permitted under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code in the event of an emergency.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0400)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0400)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB919ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB919ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102099D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB919)
4. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17102099D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB919E)

## Votes

- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendments — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Local Government — **12–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Engrossment reconsidered by Senate — **38–0** (pass) · legislature
- House amendments agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- John S. Edwards — primary (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-27** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102099D `introduction`
- **2016-12-27** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-17** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-20** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-24** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-25** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-26** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-27** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-30** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-31** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-01** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-02** Amendments by Senator Obenshain withdrawn `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2017-02-02** Reading of amendments waived
- **2017-02-02** Amendments by Senator Edwards agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2017-02-02** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB919E
- **2017-02-02** Printed as engrossed 17102099D-E
- **2017-02-06** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-07** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-14** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-14** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2017-02-14** Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 400 (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/39001d28-184c-4076-80f0-63311376a08a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).