republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1395.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Small renewable energy projects; eligibility for permits by rule."
description: "Provides that certain small renewable energy projects proposed, developed, constructed, or purchased by (i) a public utility if the project's costs are not recovered from Virginia jurisdictional customers under base rates, a fuel factor charge, or a rate adjustment clause or (ii) a utility aggregation cooperative, are eligible for a permit by rule and are exempt from environmental review and permitting by the State Corporation Commission. The measure specifies that a small renewable energy project shall be eligible for permit by rule if it is proposed, developed, constructed, or purchased by a person that is not a regulated utility. The measure exempts a small renewable energy project for which the Department of Environmental Quality has issued a permit by rule from the requirement that it obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction or operation of the project. Finally, the measure increases the maximum rated capacity of solar and wind facilities that qualify as small renewable energy projects from 100 megawatts to 150 megawatts."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1395"
citation: "Virginia SB 1395 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Commissions", "Boards and Institutions Generally", "Conservation", "Energy Conservation and Resources", "State Corporation Commission"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Frank W. Wagner"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-11"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5540e098-f114-4c53-926a-d5fec9c209a9"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1395"
source_hash: "9d71ecc31335295f085dcb96042028ebffae614d76ee8f11c3284128c1d142e2"
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 1395 (2017) — Small renewable energy projects; eligibility for permits by rule.

Provides that certain small renewable energy projects proposed, developed, constructed, or purchased by (i) a public utility if the project's costs are not recovered from Virginia jurisdictional customers under base rates, a fuel factor charge, or a rate adjustment clause or (ii) a utility aggregation cooperative, are eligible for a permit by rule and are exempt from environmental review and permitting by the State Corporation Commission. The measure specifies that a small renewable energy project shall be eligible for permit by rule if it is proposed, developed, constructed, or purchased by a person that is not a regulated utility. The measure exempts a small renewable energy project for which the Department of Environmental Quality has issued a permit by rule from the requirement that it obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction or operation of the project. Finally, the measure increases the maximum rated capacity of solar and wind facilities that qualify as small renewable energy projects from 100 megawatts to 150 megawatts.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0368)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0368)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1395ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1395ER)
3. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17104843D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1395S1)
4. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102610D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1395)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite — **13–2** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Commerce and Labor — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **36–3** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House — **87–7** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Engrossment reconsidered by Senate — **38–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Frank W. Wagner — primary (person)
- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102610D `introduction`
- **2017-01-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-31** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-01-31** Committee substitute agreed to 17104843D-S1
- **2017-01-31** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1395S1
- **2017-01-31** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-01** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1395S1
- **2017-02-06** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-21** Passed House (87-Y 7-N 2-A) `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Enrolled
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 368 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5540e098-f114-4c53-926a-d5fec9c209a9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).