---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vested rights; building permits."
description: "Vested rights; building permits. Provides that if a locality has issued a building permit, despite nonconformance with the zoning ordinance, and a property owner, relying in good faith on the issuance of the building permit, incurs extensive obligations or substantial expenses in diligent pursuit of a building project that is in conformance with the building permit and the Uniform Statewide Building Code, the locality shall not treat such building as an illegal use but rather as a legal nonconforming use. Current law requires that such project be completed and a certificate of occupancy issued in order to receive such protection."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 701"
citation: "Virginia SB 701 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Timmy F. French"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-01-19"
last_action: "2024-04-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/be3c9fb0-048d-4063-bad3-3d19b5062287"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB701"
source_hash: "81e25e354855621d5c42baa9e2467129ed6c76d469131cf64fbbc96cf5869ccf"
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 701 (2024) — Vested rights; building permits.

Vested rights; building permits. Provides that if a locality has issued a building permit, despite nonconformance with the zoning ordinance, and a property owner, relying in good faith on the issuance of the building permit, incurs extensive obligations or substantial expenses in diligent pursuit of a building project that is in conformance with the building permit and the Uniform Statewide Building Code, the locality shall not treat such building as an illegal use but rather as a legal nonconforming use. Current law requires that such project be completed and a certificate of occupancy issued in order to receive such protection.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0605** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0605)
2. **Presented and ordered printed 24104047D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB701)
3. **Printed as engrossed 24104047D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB701E)
4. **SB701ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB701ER)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (14-Y 0-N 1-A) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Timmy F. French — primary (person)
- Angelia Williams Graves — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 24104047D `introduction`
- **2024-01-19** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-07** Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (14-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Passed by for the day
- **2024-02-12** Passed by temporarily
- **2024-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-12** Committee amendment rejected `amendment-failure`
- **2024-02-12** Reading of amendment waived
- **2024-02-12** Amendment by Senator French agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-12** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB701E
- **2024-02-12** Printed as engrossed 24104047D-E
- **2024-02-13** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-16** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-16** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-16** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-19** Assigned GL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-27** Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-03-01** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-01** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-01** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-06** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-06** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB701ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-06** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 605 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-05** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0605)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/be3c9fb0-048d-4063-bad3-3d19b5062287`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).