republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1578.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Short-term rental of property; registration of persons offering property for rental."
description: "Authorizes a locality to adopt an ordinance requiring the registration of persons offering property for short-term rental. The bill defines \"short-term rental\" as the provision of a room or space suitable for sleeping or lodging for less than 30 consecutive days in exchange for a charge for the occupancy. Persons and entities already licensed or registered related to the rental or management of property by the Department of Health, the Real Estate Board, the Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act, or a locality would not be required to register. The bill authorizes localities to impose penalties not to exceed $500 per violation on persons who violate the registry ordinance. The bill amends the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Act to clarify that certain property rented on a short-term basis is considered a bed and breakfast establishment for purposes of ABC licensing and that the exception from ABC licensing for serving alcoholic beverages to guests in a residence does not apply if the guest is a short-term lessee of the residence. This bill incorporates"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1578"
citation: "Virginia SB 1578 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Alcoholic Beverage Control Act", "Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Property and Conveyances"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Thomas K. Norment, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-20"
last_action: "2017-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6af1b2fd-c6d0-4a7f-96b7-0d67eccfbea9"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1578"
source_hash: "749fc401300da170ab383460d1465dd36f992a0608c5cceb9867373aadf06526"
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 1578 (2017) — Short-term rental of property; registration of persons offering property for rental.

Authorizes a locality to adopt an ordinance requiring the registration of persons offering property for short-term rental. The bill defines "short-term rental" as the provision of a room or space suitable for sleeping or lodging for less than 30 consecutive days in exchange for a charge for the occupancy. Persons and entities already licensed or registered related to the rental or management of property by the Department of Health, the Real Estate Board, the Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act, or a locality would not be required to register. The bill authorizes localities to impose penalties not to exceed $500 per violation on persons who violate the registry ordinance. The bill amends the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Act to clarify that certain property rented on a short-term basis is considered a bed and breakfast establishment for purposes of ABC licensing and that the exception from ABC licensing for serving alcoholic beverages to guests in a residence does not apply if the guest is a short-term lessee of the residence. This bill incorporates

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0741)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0741)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1578ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1578ER)
3. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105130D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1578S1)
4. **Senate: Presented and ordered printed 17100761D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1578)

## Votes

- Rereferred from Rehabilitation and Social Services — **13–1** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House — **86–14** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **36–4** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Local Government with substitute — **11–2** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Thomas K. Norment, Jr. — primary (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. (incorporated chief co-patron) — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-20** Presented and ordered printed 17100761D `introduction`
- **2017-01-20** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-27** Rereferred to Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Incorporates SB1579 (Stanley)
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 17105130D-S1
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1578S1
- **2017-02-09** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2017-02-16** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-22** Passed House (86-Y 14-N) `passage`
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 741 (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/6af1b2fd-c6d0-4a7f-96b7-0d67eccfbea9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).