---
type: "Bill"
title: "Historical African American cemeteries; adds six in City of Alexandria."
description: "Historical African American cemeteries; adds six in City of Alexandria."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2739"
citation: "Virginia HB 2739 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Conservation", "Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Ethnic Groups", "Religious and Charitable Matters; Cemeteries"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charniele L. Herring"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 18
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-16"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0f7517f4-2766-4368-bec2-0aa01e7a4cd1"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2739"
source_hash: "b3e1498e29ed66a78602aa65fdafacac79e553fc4a956cf2558b912d7d934774"
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 2739 (2019) — Historical African American cemeteries; adds six in City of Alexandria.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0260)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0260)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2739ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2739ER)
3. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19104603D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2739)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Charniele L. Herring — primary (person)
- Adam P. Ebbin — cosponsor (person)
- George L. Barker — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-16** Presented and ordered printed 19104603D `introduction`
- **2019-01-16** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-21** Assigned ACNR sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-01** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-04** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-02-04** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-05** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Enrolled
- **2019-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-27** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 27, 2019
- **2019-02-27** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 260 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0f7517f4-2766-4368-bec2-0aa01e7a4cd1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).