---
type: "Bill"
title: "James River; designating as a State Scenic River."
description: "James State Scenic River designation. Addsa 20-mile portion of the James River located in Albemarle, Buckingham,and Fluvanna Counties to the James State Scenic River, a componentof the Virginia Scenic Rivers System."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1598"
citation: "Virginia HB 1598 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["C. Matthew Fariss"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-15"
last_action: "2020-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/411654bb-ad81-4f8d-b1ab-d063e79cb7c9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1598"
source_hash: "123b4fee8025c7461390d44dff47af9076252076d51e1ecdb4ce430d670f681e"
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 1598 (2020) — James River; designating as a State Scenic River.

James State Scenic River designation. Addsa 20-mile portion of the James River located in Albemarle, Buckingham,and Fluvanna Counties to the James State Scenic River, a componentof the Virginia Scenic Rivers System.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0319)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0319)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1598ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1598ER)
3. **Impact statement from DHCD/CLG (HB1598)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1598)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (18-Y 4-N) — **18–4** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (11-Y 2-N) — **11–2** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (31-Y 4-N) — **31–4** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (88-Y 9-N) — **87–9** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- C. Matthew Fariss — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-15** Presented and ordered printed 20105256D `introduction`
- **2020-01-15** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Impact statement from DHCD/CLG (HB1598)
- **2020-01-22** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (18-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-28** Read third time and passed House (88-Y 9-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-28** VOTE: Passage (88-Y 9-N)
- **2020-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-01-29** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (11-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** Passed Senate (31-Y 4-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 5, 2020
- **2020-03-05** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 319 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/411654bb-ad81-4f8d-b1ab-d063e79cb7c9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).