---
type: "Bill"
title: "Renewable energy; biomass-fired facilities, Department of Forestry advisory panel, report."
description: "Renewable energy; biomass-fired facilities, Department of Forestry advisory panel, report."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 1231"
citation: "Virginia SB 1231 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lewis"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 42
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/62121f50-4ff4-4ad7-ae7f-be27a66bec3e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB1231"
source_hash: "2120451088d1ba0894f444c29e9cc4522f16f452c841dc47bd16a2107e371ca0"
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 1231 (2023) — Renewable energy; biomass-fired facilities, Department of Forestry advisory panel, report.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0804** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0804)
2. **Committee substitute printed 23105971D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1231S1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 23106815D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1231H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102338D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1231)
5. **SB1231ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB1231ER)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Energy with substitute (21-Y 1-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (82-Y 14-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (9-Y 0-N 1-A) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Senate rejected Governor's recommendations #'s 1, 2, 3 (18-Y 22-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lewis — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102338D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-10** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-26** Impact statement from SCC (SB1231)
- **2023-01-31** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-01-31** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (9-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-31** Committee substitute printed 23105971D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-03** Reading of substitute waived
- **2023-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 23105971D-S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-03** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1231S1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-06** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-09** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-09** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Energy `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-10** Impact statement from SCC (SB1231S1)
- **2023-02-16** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-02-16** Reported from Commerce and Energy with substitute (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-16** Committee substitute printed 23106815D-H1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-20** Impact statement from SCC (SB1231H1)
- **2023-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-21** Passed by temporarily
- **2023-02-21** Committee substitute agreed to 23106815D-H1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-21** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1231H1 `substitution`
- **2023-02-21** Passed House with substitute (82-Y 14-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-21** VOTE: Passage (82-Y 14-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-22** House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2023-02-22** Title replaced 23106815D-H1
- **2023-03-07** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-03-07** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1231ER) `passage`
- **2023-03-08** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-08** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 13, 2023 `enrolled`
- **2023-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-20** Impact statement from SCC (SB1231ER)
- **2023-03-27** Governor's recommendation received by Senate `executive-veto-line-item`
- **2023-04-12** Senate rejected Governor's recommendations #'s 1, 2, 3 (18-Y 22-N) `veto-override-passage`
- **2023-04-12** Recommendation #4 passed by for the day
- **2023-04-12** Communicated to Governor
- **2023-05-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 804 (effective 7/1/23) `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-12** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0804)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/62121f50-4ff4-4ad7-ae7f-be27a66bec3e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).