---
type: "Bill"
title: "Aquaculture; right to use and occupy the ground for the terms of a lease in Chesapeake Bay waters."
description: "Right to aquaculture. Provides that the rightto use and occupy the ground for the terms of a lease in ChesapeakeBay waters includes the right to propagate shellfish by whatever legalmeans necessary. This bill is identical to SB 509."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 189"
citation: "Virginia HB 189 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Michael J. Webert"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-01-10"
last_action: "2022-04-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/26be9a45-9a93-4567-999d-d2302cc0923c"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB189"
source_hash: "6f2fd9f5f86f540f93d3eba7dccacddb81054f93e1c49a3b1cf1ac74bd7c0f98"
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 189 (2022) — Aquaculture; right to use and occupy the ground for the terms of a lease in Chesapeake Bay waters.

Right to aquaculture. Provides that the rightto use and occupy the ground for the terms of a lease in ChesapeakeBay waters includes the right to propagate shellfish by whatever legalmeans necessary. This bill is identical to SB 509.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0035** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0035)
2. **HB189ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB189ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101032D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB189)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N) — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Michael J. Webert — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101032D `introduction`
- **2022-01-10** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB189)
- **2022-01-21** Assigned ACNR sub: Chesapeake `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-26** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-01-31** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-02-01** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-01** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-02** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-25** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-25** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-25** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-01** Enrolled
- **2022-03-01** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB189ER)
- **2022-03-02** Signed by President
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-01** Approved by Governor-Chapter 35 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/26be9a45-9a93-4567-999d-d2302cc0923c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).