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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

2026-07-06 17:28:36 -04:00

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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

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identifier

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Bill

Utility easements; location of broadband and other communications facilities.

Utility easements; location of broadband facilities. Declares that it is the policy of the Commonwealth that (i) easements for the location and use of electric and communications facilities may be used to provide or expand broadband or other communications services; (ii) the use of easements to provide or expand broadband or other communications services is in the public interest; (iii) the installation, replacement, or use of public utility conduit, including the costs of installation, replacement, or use of conduit of a sufficient size to accommodate the installation of infrastructure to provide or expand broadband or other communications services, is in the public interest; (iv) the use of easements to provide or expand broadband or other communications services (a) does not constitute a change in the physical use of the easement, (b) does not interfere with, impair, or take any vested or other rights of the owner or occupant of the servient estate, (c) does not place any additional burden on the servient estate other than a de minimis burden, if any; (iv) has value to the owner or occupant of the servient estate greater than any de minimis impact; and (v) the installation and operation of broadband or other communications services within easements, appurtenant or gross, are merely changes in the manner, purpose, or degree of the granted use as appropriate to accommodate a new technology. The measure further provides that (1) absent any express prohibition on the installation and operation of broadband or other communications services in an easement that is contained in a deed or other instrument by which the easement was granted, the installation and operation of broadband or other communications services within any easement shall be deemed, as a matter of law, to be a permitted use within the scope of every easement for the location and use of electric and communications facilities and (2) subject to compliance with any express prohibitions in a written easement, any incumbent utility or communications provider may use an easement to install, construct, provide, maintain, modify, lease, operate, repair, replace, or remove its communications equipment, system, or facilities, and provide communications services through the same, without such incumbent utility or communications provider paying additional compensation to the owner or occupant of the servient estate or to the incumbent utility, provided that no additional utility poles are installed. The measure provides that, in cases of a prescriptive easement, such easement is deemed to exist and that any incumbent utility or communications provider may use a prescriptive easement to install, construct, provide, maintain, modify, lease, operate, repair, replace, or remove its communications equipment, system, or facilities, and provide communications services through the same, without such incumbent utility or communications provider paying additional compensation to the owner or occupant of the servient estate or to the incumbent utility, provided that no additional utility poles are installed.

us/states/va

Virginia General Assembly

2020

SB 794

Virginia SB 794 (2020)

bill

enacted

Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr.

2020-01-08

2020-04-10

openstates

ocd-bill/0a0c5f16-fe81-4be0-8663-455ec2a98e20

https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB794

d0352ef982d6e66747e1fe3afbf050907cbcd91014c082c009772d4fa3aa4e10

2026-07-01

https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump

2026-07-06

reported

legislation

bill

us-va

Virginia SB 794 (2020) — Utility easements; location of broadband and other communications facilities.

Version chain

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

Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1131) (committee substitute) — source
Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB794ER) (committee substitute) — source
Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB794S1 (committee substitute) — source
Impact statement from SCC (SB794) (committee substitute) — source
Impact statement from SCC (SB794H1) (committee substitute) — source

Votes

Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute (14-Y 0-N) — 14–0 (pass) · upper
Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (21-Y 0-N) — 21–0 (pass) · lower
Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
VOTE: Passage (92-Y 7-N 1-A) — 91–7 (pass) · lower
House substitute agreed to by Senate (35-Y 3-N 1-A) — 35–3 (pass) · upper

Timeline

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

2020-01-08 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104980D introduction
2020-01-08 Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor referral-committee
2020-01-15 Impact statement from SCC (SB794)
2020-01-17 Assigned C&L sub: Energy referral-committee
2020-02-03 Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute (14-Y 0-N) committee-passage
2020-02-03 Incorporates SB302 (Stanley)
2020-02-03 Incorporates SB539 (Peake)
2020-02-03 Committee substitute printed 20106150D-S1 substitution
2020-02-05 Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
2020-02-06 Read second time reading-2
2020-02-06 Reading of substitute waived
2020-02-06 Committee substitute agreed to 20106150D-S1
2020-02-06 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB794S1
2020-02-06 Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
2020-02-06 Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
2020-02-11 Impact statement from SCC (SB794S1)
2020-02-13 Placed on Calendar
2020-02-13 Read first time reading-1
2020-02-13 Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce referral-committee
2020-02-18 House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
2020-02-18 Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (21-Y 0-N) committee-passage
2020-02-18 Committee substitute printed 20108506D-H1 substitution
2020-02-20 Read second time reading-2
2020-02-21 Impact statement from SCC (SB794H1)
2020-02-21 Passed by for the day
2020-02-24 Passed by for the day
2020-02-25 Read third time reading-3
2020-02-25 Committee substitute agreed to 20108506D-H1
2020-02-25 Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB794H1
2020-02-25 Passed House with substitute (92-Y 7-N 1-A) passage
2020-02-25 VOTE: Passage (92-Y 7-N 1-A)
2020-02-27 House substitute agreed to by Senate (35-Y 3-N 1-A)
2020-02-27 Title replaced 20108506D-H1
2020-03-04 Enrolled
2020-03-05 Impact statement from SCC (SB794ER)
2020-03-05 Signed by President
2020-03-05 Signed by Speaker
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
2020-04-10 Approved by Governor-Chapter 1131 (effective 7/1/20) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/0a0c5f16-fe81-4be0-8663-455ec2a98e20. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).

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