republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-849.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Lawn fertilizer; contractor-applicators."
description: "Lawn fertilizer contractor-applicators.Authorizes the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Servicesto enter into an agreement with a locality to provide oversight anddata collection assistance related to the requirements of certifiedlawn fertilizer contractor-applicators. Current law prohibits localitiesfrom regulating the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, use,application, storage, or distribution of fertilizers except by ordinancepursuant to certain requirements. The bill also reduces from 100 to50 the total number of acres of nonagricultural land to which a contractor-applicatormay apply lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer annuallywithout submitting an annual report to the Commissioner. The billincreases from $250 to $1,000 the civil penalty imposed on a contractor-applicatorfor a violation of applicable regulations."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 849"
citation: "Virginia SB 849 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["T. Montgomery \"Monty\" Mason"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-08"
last_action: "2020-03-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5e1f2183-44c1-43f9-81e2-31d526a751e9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB849"
source_hash: "226463ae7340fadf806718be73999d28c3ee3e1b9e5f0e010e1fc709c6226ca6"
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 849 (2020) — Lawn fertilizer; contractor-applicators.

Lawn fertilizer contractor-applicators.Authorizes the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Servicesto enter into an agreement with a locality to provide oversight anddata collection assistance related to the requirements of certifiedlawn fertilizer contractor-applicators. Current law prohibits localitiesfrom regulating the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, use,application, storage, or distribution of fertilizers except by ordinancepursuant to certain requirements. The bill also reduces from 100 to50 the total number of acres of nonagricultural land to which a contractor-applicatormay apply lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer annuallywithout submitting an annual report to the Commissioner. The billincreases from $250 to $1,000 the civil penalty imposed on a contractor-applicatorfor a violation of applicable regulations.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0413)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0413)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB849ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB849ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB849)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB849)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N) — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (63-Y 36-N) — **62–36** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (17-Y 5-N) — **17–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102703D `introduction`
- **2020-01-08** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-13** Impact statement from DPB (SB849)
- **2020-01-14** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-14** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-21** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-22** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-24** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **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: Chesapeake `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-19** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (17-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Passed House (63-Y 36-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-24** VOTE: Passage (63-Y 36-N)
- **2020-02-27** Enrolled
- **2020-02-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB849ER)
- **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
- **2020-03-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 413 (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/5e1f2183-44c1-43f9-81e2-31d526a751e9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).