republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2018/sb-179.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Comprehensive plan; solar facilities.	Provides that a solar facility subject to provisions requiring the facility to be substantially in accord with a locality's comprehensive plan shall be deemed to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan if (i) such proposed solar facility is located in a zoning district that allows such solar facilities by right or (ii) such proposed solar facility is designed to serve the electricity or thermal needs of the property upon which such facility is located, or will be owned or operated by an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator under § 56-594 or by a small agricultural generator under § 56-594.2. The bill authorizes a locality to allow for a substantial accord review for other solar facilities to be advertised and approved concurrently in a public hearing process with a rezoning, special exception, or other approval process. This bill is identical to	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2018	SB 179	Virginia SB 179 (2018)	bill	Counties Cities and Towns Energy Conservation and Resources	enacted	William M. Stanley, Jr.	3	17	5	2017-12-28	2018-03-05	openstates	ocd-bill/15fad9f2-fe73-493c-915a-347c9a2b54b0	http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+SB179	dc8e71560f4ea8e3773c5842daf86f5d95caf24882b45abee23c0395a9115c4e	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 179 (2018) — Comprehensive plan; solar facilities.

Provides that a solar facility subject to provisions requiring the facility to be substantially in accord with a locality's comprehensive plan shall be deemed to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan if (i) such proposed solar facility is located in a zoning district that allows such solar facilities by right or (ii) such proposed solar facility is designed to serve the electricity or thermal needs of the property upon which such facility is located, or will be owned or operated by an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator under § 56-594 or by a small agricultural generator under § 56-594.2. The bill authorizes a locality to allow for a substantial accord review for other solar facilities to be advertised and approved concurrently in a public hearing process with a rezoning, special exception, or other approval process. This bill is identical to

Version chain

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

1. Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB179ER) (committee substitute) — source
2. Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18103842D (committee substitute) — source
3. Senate: Printed as engrossed 18103842D-E (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Read third time and passed Senate — 40–0 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Local Government with amendments — 13–0 (pass) · legislature
• Passed House BLOCK VOTE — 100–0 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns — 21–0 (pass) · legislature
• Constitutional reading dispensed — 40–0 (pass) · legislature

Sponsors

• William M. Stanley, Jr. — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-12-28 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18103842D introduction
• 2017-12-28 Referred to Committee on Local Government referral-committee
• 2018-02-02 Read second time reading-2
• 2018-02-02 Reading of amendments waived
• 2018-02-02 Committee amendments agreed to
• 2018-02-02 Engrossed by Senate as amended SB179E
• 2018-02-02 Printed as engrossed 18103842D-E
• 2018-02-08 Placed on Calendar
• 2018-02-08 Read first time reading-1
• 2018-02-08 Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns referral-committee
• 2018-02-20 Read second time reading-2
• 2018-02-21 Read third time reading-3
• 2018-02-21 Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) passage
• 2018-02-22 Enrolled
• 2018-02-26 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 26, 2018
• 2018-02-26 Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 5, 2018
• 2018-03-05 Approved by Governor-Chapter 175 (effective 7/1/18) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/15fad9f2-fe73-493c-915a-347c9a2b54b0. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).