---
type: "Bill"
title: "Transfer of development rights; specified sending and receiving areas."
description: "Transfer of development rights; specified sending and receiving areas."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2139"
citation: "Virginia HB 2139 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties", "Cities and Towns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert M. \"Bob\" Thomas, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 17
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-01-08"
last_action: "2019-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/aa6efa89-9aee-41f5-b491-738a70aeb462"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2139"
source_hash: "45b49b94c9cff1afcf142602ecb8b80595e5c400eb490233195d9e1bc7f1cac6"
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 2139 (2019) — Transfer of development rights; specified sending and receiving areas.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0701)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0701)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2139ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2139ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101605D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2139)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Robert M. "Bob" Thomas, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101605D `introduction`
- **2019-01-08** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-14** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2019-01-24** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (96-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-24** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-01-24** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-01-25** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-25** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Enrolled
- **2019-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-27** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 27, 2019
- **2019-02-27** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 701 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/aa6efa89-9aee-41f5-b491-738a70aeb462`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).