---
type: "Bill"
title: "Balloons; release of nonbiodegradable balloons outdoors prohibited, civil penalty."
description: "Release of balloon prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits any individual 16 years of age or older or other person, including a corporation, from intentionally releasing, discarding, or causing to be released or discarded any nonbiodegradable balloon outdoors and provides that any person convicted of such violation is liable for a civil penalty of $25 per balloon, to be paid into the Game Protection Fund. The bill provides that if a person under the age of 16 releases a balloon at the instruction of an adult, the adult shall be liable for the civil penalty. Current law prohibits a person from knowingly releasing 50 or more such balloons within an hour and sets the civil penalty at $5 per balloon, with the proceeds deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment Fund."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2159"
citation: "Virginia HB 2159 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nancy D. Guy"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fbf453a3-b866-4191-aac4-951e3b245d93"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2159"
source_hash: "61a0271232b850c3c9d670884d827a1a780c88dcc234b7253b5f7d083c21c53a"
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 2159 (2021) — Balloons; release of nonbiodegradable balloons outdoors prohibited, civil penalty.

Release of balloon prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits any individual 16 years of age or older or other person, including a corporation, from intentionally releasing, discarding, or causing to be released or discarded any nonbiodegradable balloon outdoors and provides that any person convicted of such violation is liable for a civil penalty of $25 per balloon, to be paid into the Game Protection Fund. The bill provides that if a person under the age of 16 releases a balloon at the instruction of an adult, the adult shall be liable for the civil penalty. Current law prohibits a person from knowingly releasing 50 or more such balloons within an hour and sets the civil penalty at $5 per balloon, with the proceeds deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment Fund.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0420** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0420)
2. **HB2159ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2159ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102435D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2159)
4. **Printed as engrossed 21102435D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2159E)

## Votes

- VOTE: Passage (59-Y 40-N 1-A) — **58–40** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) — **22–17** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) — **22–17** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 7-N) — **8–7** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendment(s) (14-Y 8-N) — **14–8** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nancy D. Guy — primary (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102435D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-15** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB2159)
- **2021-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
- **2021-01-20** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-20** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendment(s) (14-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-22** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-22** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2021-01-22** Engrossed by House as amended HB2159E
- **2021-01-22** Printed as engrossed 21102435D-E
- **2021-01-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB2159E)
- **2021-01-25** Read third time and passed House (59-Y 40-N 1-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-25** VOTE: Passage (59-Y 40-N 1-A)
- **2021-01-26** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-01-26** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-16** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-18** Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-18** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-18** Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-22** Enrolled
- **2021-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (HB2159ER)
- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
- **2021-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2021
- **2021-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-30** Approved by Governor-Chapter 420 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fbf453a3-b866-4191-aac4-951e3b245d93`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).