---
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 HB 831."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 248"
citation: "Virginia SB 248 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e835e9bd-3c02-4a60-b480-de669860889f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB248"
source_hash: "07435440eb4325e21d78b52ffecdef3409ee4171e840441467466f5414455abf"
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 248 (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 HB 831.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0538** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0538)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22105061D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB248S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103305D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB248)
4. **SB248ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB248ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103305D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-20** Impact statement from DPB (SB248)
- **2022-01-25** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-01-25** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-25** Committee substitute printed 22105061D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-01-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB248S1)
- **2022-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-28** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-01-28** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-01-28** Committee substitute agreed to 22105061D-S1
- **2022-01-28** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB248S1
- **2022-01-31** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-21** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-28** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-28** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-02** Enrolled
- **2022-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-03** Signed by President
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (SB248ER)
- **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
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 538 (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/e835e9bd-3c02-4a60-b480-de669860889f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).