republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-774.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Big game hunting; guaranteed kills prohibited, penalty."
description: "Big game hunting; guaranteed kills prohibited;penalty. Prohibits offering for sale, selling, offering to purchase,purchasing, or guaranteeing a kill of, or charging a fee for killing,a deer, bear, or wild turkey. Such prohibition does not apply tokilling small game or migratory birds. The bill does not preventa landowner from leasing land for hunting, except that a lease ofland for hunting deer, bear, or wild turkey shall not be for a durationof less than three days. A violation is punishable as a Class 1misdemeanor; when the aggregate of such sales or purchases, or anycombination thereof, by any person totals $500 or more during any90-day period, such violation is punishable as a Class 6 felony."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 774"
citation: "Virginia SB 774 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["A. Benton \"Ben\" Chafin"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 34
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-08"
last_action: "2020-04-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e2632c38-f73a-4d7d-82af-7bd1f87103d6"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB774"
source_hash: "8c95a2f8a458bd6a7de49baea0f40089c338139c1e122b7e0f749c2279e7f6ad"
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 774 (2020) — Big game hunting; guaranteed kills prohibited, penalty.

Big game hunting; guaranteed kills prohibited;penalty. Prohibits offering for sale, selling, offering to purchase,purchasing, or guaranteeing a kill of, or charging a fee for killing,a deer, bear, or wild turkey. Such prohibition does not apply tokilling small game or migratory birds. The bill does not preventa landowner from leasing land for hunting, except that a lease ofland for hunting deer, bear, or wild turkey shall not be for a durationof less than three days. A violation is punishable as a Class 1misdemeanor; when the aggregate of such sales or purchases, or anycombination thereof, by any person totals $500 or more during any90-day period, such violation is punishable as a Class 6 felony.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0631)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0631)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB774ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB774ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB774S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB774S1)
4. **Impact statement from VCSC (SB774)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB774)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with amendment (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- A. Benton "Ben" Chafin — primary (person)
- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104094D `introduction`
- **2020-01-08** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-10** Impact statement from VCSC (SB774)
- **2020-01-14** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with amendment (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-17** Passed by for the day
- **2020-01-20** Passed by for the day
- **2020-01-21** Passed by for the day
- **2020-01-22** Floor substitute printed 20106173D-S1 (Chafin)
- **2020-01-22** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-22** Committee amendment rejected
- **2020-01-22** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-01-22** Substitute by Senator Chafin agreed to 20106173D-S1
- **2020-01-22** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB774S1
- **2020-01-23** Impact statement from VCSC (SB774S1)
- **2020-01-23** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-29** Impact statement from DPB (SB774S1)
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-19** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-24** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-27** Enrolled
- **2020-02-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB774ER)
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-10** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 10, 2020
- **2020-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 631 (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/e2632c38-f73a-4d7d-82af-7bd1f87103d6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).