republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-1902.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	Expanded polystyrene food service containers; prohibition, civil penalty.	Expanded polystyrene food service containers; prohibition; civil penalty. Prohibits the dispensing by a food vendor of prepared food to a customer in a single-use expanded polystyrene food service container, as defined in the bill. The bill requires certain chain restaurants to stop using such containers by July 1, 2023, and sets the date for compliance by all food vendors as July 1, 2025. The bill exempts nonprofit organizations from the definition of "food vendor" and provides a process by which a locality may grant consecutive one-year exemptions to individual food vendors on the basis of undue economic hardship. The bill provides a civil penalty of not more than $50 for each day of violation, to be collected in a civil action brought by the Attorney General or the relevant locality. The penalties collected are to be deposited in the Litter Control and Recycling Fund or to the treasury of the relevant locality, as appropriate. A portion of the penalties deposited in the Fund are to be used for public information campaigns to discourage the sale and use of expanded polystyrene products. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Environmental Quality to post to its website information on compliance and the filing of complaints. This bill is a reenactment of Chapter 1104 of the Acts of Assembly of 2020.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2021	HB 1902	Virginia HB 1902 (2021)	bill		enacted	Betsy B. Carr	4	43	10	2021-01-08	2021-03-18	openstates	ocd-bill/e42f74e6-7719-40c0-b88e-700bef6b346e	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1902	6a85a7d5599f38552a1967cc75f851aa8bc2ef0471dfaed989ef478f04552107	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 1902 (2021) — Expanded polystyrene food service containers; prohibition, civil penalty.

Expanded polystyrene food service containers; prohibition; civil penalty. Prohibits the dispensing by a food vendor of prepared food to a customer in a single-use expanded polystyrene food service container, as defined in the bill. The bill requires certain chain restaurants to stop using such containers by July 1, 2023, and sets the date for compliance by all food vendors as July 1, 2025. The bill exempts nonprofit organizations from the definition of "food vendor" and provides a process by which a locality may grant consecutive one-year exemptions to individual food vendors on the basis of undue economic hardship. The bill provides a civil penalty of not more than $50 for each day of violation, to be collected in a civil action brought by the Attorney General or the relevant locality. The penalties collected are to be deposited in the Litter Control and Recycling Fund or to the treasury of the relevant locality, as appropriate. A portion of the penalties deposited in the Fund are to be used for public information campaigns to discourage the sale and use of expanded polystyrene products. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Environmental Quality to post to its website information on compliance and the filing of complaints. This bill is a reenactment of Chapter 1104 of the Acts of Assembly of 2020.

Version chain

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

1. CHAP0262 (committee substitute) — source
2. HB1902ER (committee substitute) — source
3. Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100816D (committee substitute) — source
4. Printed as engrossed 21100816D-E (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Senate insisted on amendments (37-Y 0-N) — 37–0 (pass) · upper
• Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N) — 14–0 (pass) · upper
• VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 93-N) — 1–92 (fail) · lower
• VOTE: Agreed To (57-Y 39-N) — 56–39 (pass) · lower
• Passed Senate with amendments (21-Y 16-N) — 21–16 (pass) · upper
• Conference report agreed to by Senate (24-Y 15-N) — 24–15 (pass) · upper
• Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• VOTE: Passage (58-Y 40-N) — 57–40 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 7-N) — 8–7 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (15-Y 7-N) — 15–7 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Betsy B. Carr — primary (person)
• Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
• Ghazala F. Hashmi — cosponsor (person)
• Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
• Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
• Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
• Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
• Paul E. Krizek — cosponsor (person)
• R. Lee Ware — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2021-01-08 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100816D introduction
• 2021-01-08 Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources referral-committee
• 2021-01-13 Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (15-Y 7-N) committee-passage
• 2021-01-15 Read first time reading-1
• 2021-01-18 Impact statement from DPB (HB1902)
• 2021-01-18 Read second time reading-2
• 2021-01-18 Amendment by Delegate Carr agreed to amendment-passage
• 2021-01-18 Engrossed by House as amended HB1902E
• 2021-01-18 Printed as engrossed 21100816D-E
• 2021-01-19 Impact statement from DPB (HB1902E)
• 2021-01-19 Read third time and passed House (58-Y 40-N) passage, reading-3
• 2021-01-19 VOTE: Passage (58-Y 40-N)
• 2021-01-20 Constitutional reading dispensed
• 2021-01-20 Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources referral-committee
• 2021-02-05 Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-16 Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 7-N) committee-passage
• 2021-02-17 Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-18 Read third time reading-3
• 2021-02-18 Passed by for the day
• 2021-02-19 Read third time reading-3
• 2021-02-19 Passed by temporarily
• 2021-02-19 Reading of amendments waived
• 2021-02-19 Amendments by Senator Petersen agreed to amendment-passage
• 2021-02-19 Engrossed by Senate as amended
• 2021-02-19 Passed Senate with amendments (21-Y 16-N) passage
• 2021-02-19 Senate amendments rejected by House (1-Y 93-N)
• 2021-02-19 VOTE: REJECTED (1-Y 93-N)
• 2021-02-19 Senate insisted on amendments (37-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-19 Senate requested conference committee
• 2021-02-19 House acceded to request
• 2021-02-19 Conferees appointed by House
• 2021-02-19 Conferees appointed by Senate
• 2021-02-24 Amended by conference committee
• 2021-02-24 Conference report agreed to by Senate (24-Y 15-N)
• 2021-02-24 Conference report agreed to by House (57-Y 39-N)
• 2021-02-24 VOTE: Agreed To (57-Y 39-N)
• 2021-02-26 Enrolled
• 2021-02-26 Signed by Speaker
• 2021-02-27 Signed by President
• 2021-03-01 Impact statement from DPB (HB1902ER)
• 2021-03-01 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 1, 20201
• 2021-03-01 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
• 2021-03-18 Approved by Governor-Chapter 262 (effective 7/1/21) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/e42f74e6-7719-40c0-b88e-700bef6b346e. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).