---
type: "Bill"
title: "Transient occupancy tax; authorizes Prince George County to impose."
description: "Additional transient occupancy tax in Prince George County. Authorizes Prince George County to impose an additional transient occupancy tax at a rate of up to two percent, for a total maximum rate of seven percent. The revenue from the additional tax shall be used solely for tourism purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 255"
citation: "Virginia SB 255 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Frank M. Ruff, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-03"
last_action: "2020-04-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/60160759-509b-45ea-aed3-6dcabe34a636"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB255"
source_hash: "a09d8358de5e234495827e0f2681a99a2d9b198060ffbcae5eaa061fb0f795a5"
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 255 (2020) — Transient occupancy tax; authorizes Prince George County to impose.

Additional transient occupancy tax in Prince George County. Authorizes Prince George County to impose an additional transient occupancy tax at a rate of up to two percent, for a total maximum rate of seven percent. The revenue from the additional tax shall be used solely for tourism purposes.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0787)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0787)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB255ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB255ER)
3. **Impact statement from TAX (SB255)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB255)

## Votes

- VOTE: Passage (69-Y 27-N) — **68–27** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (30-Y 9-N 1-A) — **30–9** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance (16-Y 6-N) — **16–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Frank M. Ruff, Jr. — primary (person)
- Joseph D. Morrissey — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101548D `introduction`
- **2020-01-03** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-08** Moved from Finance to Finance and Appropriations due to a change of the committee name
- **2020-01-14** Impact statement from TAX (SB255)
- **2020-01-15** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-17** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-20** Read third time and passed Senate (30-Y 9-N 1-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-12** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-12** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-12** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-24** Reported from Finance (16-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-26** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-27** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-27** Passed House (69-Y 27-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-27** VOTE: Passage (69-Y 27-N)
- **2020-03-04** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-06** Impact statement from TAX (SB255ER)
- **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
- **2020-04-07** Approved by Governor-Chapter 787 (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/60160759-509b-45ea-aed3-6dcabe34a636`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).