---
type: "Bill"
title: "Digestate; definition, definition of anaerobic digestion."
description: "Fertilizer; digestate. Clarifies that a regulated product, for the purposes of fertilizer law, includes digestate. Digestate is defined in the bill as a biologically stable material derived from the process of anaerobic digestion. The bill also includes digestate in fertilizer labeling requirements. This bill is identical to SB 248."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 831"
citation: "Virginia HB 831 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Tony O. Wilt"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-12"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b8b7d256-a6bb-4fa1-a117-f29cac7adbe5"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB831"
source_hash: "9e8943c7e1e73d324d05e232219289c40ee26cd722ea64be287113a99631a0bf"
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 831 (2022) — Digestate; definition, definition of anaerobic digestion.

Fertilizer; digestate. Clarifies that a regulated product, for the purposes of fertilizer law, includes digestate. Digestate is defined in the bill as a biologically stable material derived from the process of anaerobic digestion. The bill also includes digestate in fertilizer labeling requirements. This bill is identical to SB 248.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0539** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0539)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22105301D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB831H1)
3. **HB831ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB831ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100962D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB831)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (9-Y 1-N) — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage #2 (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Tony O. Wilt — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100962D `introduction`
- **2022-01-12** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-20** Impact statement from DPB (HB831)
- **2022-01-24** Assigned ACNR sub: Agriculture `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-26** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-01-26** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (9-Y 1-N)
- **2022-02-02** Committee substitute printed 22105301D-H1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-02** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-07** Impact statement from DPB (HB831H1)
- **2022-02-07** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-07** Committee substitute agreed to 22105301D-H1
- **2022-02-07** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB831H1
- **2022-02-08** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-08** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-08** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2022-02-08** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-08** VOTE: Block Vote Passage #2 (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-09** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-01** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-04** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-09** Enrolled
- **2022-03-09** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-10** Impact statement from DPB (HB831ER)
- **2022-03-10** Signed by President
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 539 (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/b8b7d256-a6bb-4fa1-a117-f29cac7adbe5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).