---
type: "Bill"
title: "Community solar development pilot program; low-income communities."
description: "Community solar development pilot program; low-income communities. Requires each incumbent electric utility to select for dedication to its community solar development pilot program one or more eligible generating facilities that are located within a low-income community as a condition for the utility's selection for dedication to its program any eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. The bill requires the costs of the selected facilities in low-income communities to equal or exceed the costs of the eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. These requirements apply to facilities selected on or after July 1, 2020. The bill defines a low-income community as a census tract that is designated in 2019 or thereafter as a qualified census tract for purposes of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Such census tracts are required to have 50 percent of households with incomes below 60 percent of the area median gross income or have a poverty rate of 25 percent or more."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 573"
citation: "Virginia HB 573 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark L. Keam"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2020-01-06"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/21a4a91c-3c6e-42d8-a688-152700738993"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB573"
source_hash: "6da2b19bc75591c59755c0f89a1efe4814eefb8f3cab01ea03256eb8f626cdb4"
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 573 (2020) — Community solar development pilot program; low-income communities.

Community solar development pilot program; low-income communities. Requires each incumbent electric utility to select for dedication to its community solar development pilot program one or more eligible generating facilities that are located within a low-income community as a condition for the utility's selection for dedication to its program any eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. The bill requires the costs of the selected facilities in low-income communities to equal or exceed the costs of the eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. These requirements apply to facilities selected on or after July 1, 2020. The bill defines a low-income community as a census tract that is designated in 2019 or thereafter as a qualified census tract for purposes of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Such census tracts are required to have 50 percent of households with incomes below 60 percent of the area median gross income or have a poverty rate of 25 percent or more.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0663)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0663)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB573ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB573ER)
3. **Impact statement from SCC (HB573)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB573)

## Votes

- Referred from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from Commerce and Labor (13-Y 2-N) — **13–2** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N) — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Labor and Commerce (19-Y 1-N) — **19–1** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (27-Y 13-N) — **27–13** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (90-Y 8-N) — **89–8** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (25-Y 14-N 1-A) — **25–14** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mark L. Keam — primary (person)
- Chris L. Hurst — cosponsor (person)
- Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100585D `introduction`
- **2020-01-06** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-11** Impact statement from SCC (HB573)
- **2020-01-15** Referred from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
- **2020-01-15** Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Assigned C & L sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-30** Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-04** Reported from Labor and Commerce (19-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-06** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-07** Read third time and passed House (90-Y 8-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-07** VOTE: Passage (90-Y 8-N)
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-10** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-24** Reported from Commerce and Labor (13-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-26** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-27** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-27** Passed Senate (25-Y 14-N 1-A) `passage`
- **2020-02-27** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-27** Passed Senate (27-Y 13-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from SCC (HB573ER)
- **2020-03-05** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-05** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 663 (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/21a4a91c-3c6e-42d8-a688-152700738993`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).