---
type: "Bill"
title: "Underground utility facilities; Fairfax County."
description: "Underground utility facilities; Fairfax County. Removes the sunset on a pilot program allowing a locality that has adopted the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax County) to request an electric utility to place underground electric distribution lines as part of a transportation infrastructure improvement project and changes a number of provisions in the program including (i) expanding the scope to include electric cooperatives, telecommunications providers, cable providers, and other utilities; (ii) expanding the scope to include all underground facilities; (iii) making negotiable in the agreement the costs of relocating the facilities; (iv) placing additional limits on the levy to fund the project and the types of projects for which it may be imposed; and (v) authorizing the locality to secure necessary permits on behalf of the utility or provider."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1385"
citation: "Virginia SB 1385 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 44
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/74c24427-a020-4e99-ba69-7d8064e43fb7"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1385"
source_hash: "1b423f31a68d8c710690238ec1f3971853142fef32c05177600c93b1a32a6275"
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 1385 (2021) — Underground utility facilities; Fairfax County.

Underground utility facilities; Fairfax County. Removes the sunset on a pilot program allowing a locality that has adopted the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax County) to request an electric utility to place underground electric distribution lines as part of a transportation infrastructure improvement project and changes a number of provisions in the program including (i) expanding the scope to include electric cooperatives, telecommunications providers, cable providers, and other utilities; (ii) expanding the scope to include all underground facilities; (iii) making negotiable in the agreement the costs of relocating the facilities; (iv) placing additional limits on the levy to fund the project and the types of projects for which it may be imposed; and (v) authorizing the locality to secure necessary permits on behalf of the utility or provider.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0505** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0505)
2. **Conference substitute printed 21200744D-S2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1385S2)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102804D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1385)
4. **SB1385ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1385ER)
5. **SB1385S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1385S1)

## Votes

- House amendments rejected by Senate (0-Y 38-N) — **0–38** (fail) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (32-Y 7-N) — **32–7** (pass) · upper
- Senate acceded to request (36-Y 2-N) — **36–2** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (57-Y 39-N) — **56–39** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Agreed To (55-Y 42-N) — **54–42** (pass) · lower
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Counties, Cities and Towns — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N) — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government with substitute (13-Y 0-N 1-A) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (11-Y 10-N) — **11–10** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (33-Y 6-N) — **33–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)
- Adam P. Ebbin — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Mark D. Sickles — cosponsor (person)
- Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102804D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-01** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-01** Reported from Local Government with substitute (13-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-01** Committee substitute printed 21104285D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-01** Substitute bill reprinted 21104285D-S1
- **2021-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-03** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 21104285D-S1
- **2021-02-03** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1385S1
- **2021-02-04** Read third time and passed Senate (33-Y 6-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-07** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-07** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-07** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Counties, Cities and Towns
- **2021-02-19** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-19** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-19** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (11-Y 10-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-24** Passed by for the day
- **2021-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-25** Passed by temporarily
- **2021-02-25** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2021-02-25** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2021-02-25** Passed House with amendments (57-Y 39-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-25** VOTE: Passage (57-Y 39-N)
- **2021-02-25** House amendments rejected by Senate (0-Y 38-N)
- **2021-02-25** House insisted on substitute
- **2021-02-25** House requested conference committee
- **2021-02-25** Senate acceded to request (36-Y 2-N)
- **2021-02-25** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2021-02-25** Conferees appointed by House
- **2021-02-27** Amended by conference committee
- **2021-02-27** Conference substitute printed 21200744D-S2
- **2021-02-27** Conference report agreed to by House (55-Y 42-N)
- **2021-02-27** VOTE: Agreed To (55-Y 42-N)
- **2021-02-27** Conference report agreed to by Senate (32-Y 7-N)
- **2021-03-09** Enrolled
- **2021-03-09** Signed by President
- **2021-03-11** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-15** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 15, 2021
- **2021-03-15** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-31** Approved by Governor-Chapter 505 (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/74c24427-a020-4e99-ba69-7d8064e43fb7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).