---
type: "Bill"
title: "Certified pollution control equipment and facilities; tax exemption, timing of certification."
description: "Tax exemption for certified pollution control equipment and facilities; timing of certification by the state certifying authority. Provides that, upon the request of a political subdivision, the state certifying authority having jurisdiction shall certify the tax-exempt status of certain pollution control equipment and facilities on a prospective basis. The property eligible for such treatment shall be equipment and facilities intended for use by a political subdivision in conjunction with the operation of its water, wastewater, stormwater, or solid waste management facilities or systems. This bill is identical to HB 1173."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 685"
citation: "Virginia SB 685 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["T. Montgomery \"Monty\" Mason"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b05cc56-58d6-4a0e-868b-7e84c5b2411f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB685"
source_hash: "75b4c944c3fd96e57a980439202bbf496b3a3cfe8683eaf834beceba5b96923e"
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 685 (2020) — Certified pollution control equipment and facilities; tax exemption, timing of certification.

Tax exemption for certified pollution control equipment and facilities; timing of certification by the state certifying authority. Provides that, upon the request of a political subdivision, the state certifying authority having jurisdiction shall certify the tax-exempt status of certain pollution control equipment and facilities on a prospective basis. The property eligible for such treatment shall be equipment and facilities intended for use by a political subdivision in conjunction with the operation of its water, wastewater, stormwater, or solid waste management facilities or systems. This bill is identical to HB 1173.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0065)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0065)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB685ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB685ER)
3. **Impact statement from TAX (SB685)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB685)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104955D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-19** Impact statement from TAX (SB685)
- **2020-01-21** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-22** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-24** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `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`
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Finance (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-17** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Enrolled
- **2020-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-20** Signed by President
- **2020-02-21** Impact statement from TAX (SB685ER)
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 24, 2020
- **2020-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 2, 2020
- **2020-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 65 (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/5b05cc56-58d6-4a0e-868b-7e84c5b2411f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).