---
type: "Bill"
title: "Environmental Quality, Department of; definition of environmental justice."
description: "Department of Environmental Quality; environmentaljustice. Provides that one of the purposes of the Departmentof Environmental Quality is to further environmental justice, asdefined in the bill."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1162"
citation: "Virginia HB 1162 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alfonso H. Lopez"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7ff45ef2-bbed-4a3e-95b5-c0a7648f18a4"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1162"
source_hash: "a0ec0c688e5ebc56c8e33510cf420393872b56ccb09b066c449dc0b2dbe55a76"
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 1162 (2020) — Environmental Quality, Department of; definition of environmental justice.

Department of Environmental Quality; environmentaljustice. Provides that one of the purposes of the Departmentof Environmental Quality is to further environmental justice, asdefined in the bill.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0454)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0454)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1162ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1162ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB1162)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1162)

## Votes

- VOTE: Passage (55-Y 44-N) — **54–44** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with amendment (8-Y 6-N) — **8–6** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with amendment (21-Y 19-N) — **21–19** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (53-Y 43-N) — **52–43** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alfonso H. Lopez — primary (person)
- Ibraheem S. Samirah — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)
- Suhas Subramanyam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101702D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Impact statement from DPB (HB1162)
- **2020-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-07** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Read third time and passed House (55-Y 44-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-10** VOTE: Passage (55-Y 44-N)
- **2020-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with amendment (8-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-21** Passed by for the day
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Reading of amendment waived
- **2020-02-24** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-02-24** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2020-02-24** Passed Senate with amendment (21-Y 19-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-26** Senate amendment agreed to by House (53-Y 43-N)
- **2020-02-26** VOTE: Adoption (53-Y 43-N)
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled
- **2020-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB1162ER)
- **2020-03-03** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-04** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-03-25** Approved by Governor-Chapter 454 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7ff45ef2-bbed-4a3e-95b5-c0a7648f18a4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).