---
type: "Bill"
title: "Tobacco Board; composition, increases excise tax on bright flue-cured & type 21 dark-fired tobacco."
description: "Alters the member nomination process, tax rate, and other functions of the Tobacco Board (the Board). The bill removes the 90-day deadline for submission of industry nominees for a seat on the Board, as well as the requirement that there be two or more nominations for each seat. The bill removes from the Board the power to appoint a secretary and other employees. Finally, the bill raises the excise tax on tobacco from 20 cents to 40 cents per 100 pounds of tobacco harvested and renames it an assessment; authorizes the Board, at its discretion, to waive interest on the assessment when it is paid late or is left unpaid; and provides criteria for such waiver. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 948"
citation: "Virginia SB 948 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Animal Care and Food", "Commissions", "Boards and Institutions Generally", "Tobacco and Tobacco Products"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Frank M. Ruff, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2016-12-31"
last_action: "2017-02-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/400d9fe0-8e4d-41c4-bc78-411a940d8e22"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB948"
source_hash: "c5f165bd76aad023d6b6d049d6ddf44f6f82641c0dfafccf13a059b8c49f1e90"
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 948 (2017) — Tobacco Board; composition, increases excise tax on bright flue-cured & type 21 dark-fired tobacco.

Alters the member nomination process, tax rate, and other functions of the Tobacco Board (the Board). The bill removes the 90-day deadline for submission of industry nominees for a seat on the Board, as well as the requirement that there be two or more nominations for each seat. The bill removes from the Board the power to appoint a secretary and other employees. Finally, the bill raises the excise tax on tobacco from 20 cents to 40 cents per 100 pounds of tobacco harvested and renames it an assessment; authorizes the Board, at its discretion, to waive interest on the assessment when it is paid late or is left unpaid; and provides criteria for such waiver. 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 (CHAP0066)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0066)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB948ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB948ER)
3. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17104043D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB948S1)
4. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100711D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB948)

## Votes

- Passed House — **92–3** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite — **10–1** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **32–8** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Frank M. Ruff, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-31** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100711D `introduction`
- **2016-12-31** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-17** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-17** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-01-17** Committee substitute agreed to 17104043D-S1
- **2017-01-17** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB948S1
- **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** Passed House (92-Y 3-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-13** Enrolled
- **2017-02-13** Signed by President
- **2017-02-13** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-14** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/14/17
- **2017-02-14** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 21, 2017
- **2017-02-20** Approved by Governor-Chapter 66 (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/400d9fe0-8e4d-41c4-bc78-411a940d8e22`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).