republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1260.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Transportation purposes; entry onto land for inspection."
description: "Entry onto land for inspection. Requires that for any project wherein the power of eminent domain may be exercised, any locality or the Commissioner of Highways to provide a landowner with  a request to enter and inspect property at least 30 days in advance. The request must be on official letterhead, and shall notify the landowner that even if permission is withheld, the locality or the Commissioner of Highways will be permitted to enter the property on the proposed date."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1260"
citation: "Virginia SB 1260 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John J. Bell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 35
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-03-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/69c4e41d-c409-4b1b-b701-053a35a58212"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1260"
source_hash: "c6235afbe9694d1508b4865049bc94fd6f53de1f0c0eaa2112e160cdf6b3bdf0"
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 1260 (2021) — Transportation purposes; entry onto land for inspection.

Entry onto land for inspection. Requires that for any project wherein the power of eminent domain may be exercised, any locality or the Commissioner of Highways to provide a landowner with  a request to enter and inspect property at least 30 days in advance. The request must be on official letterhead, and shall notify the landowner that even if permission is withheld, the locality or the Commissioner of Highways will be permitted to enter the property on the proposed date.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0060** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0060)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21103931D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1260S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101431D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1260)
4. **SB1260ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1260ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Transportation with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Transportation (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Transportation — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- House amendments agreed to by Senate (38-Y 1-N) — **38–1** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N) — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- John J. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101431D `introduction`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (SB1260)
- **2021-01-28** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-28** Reported from Transportation with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-28** Committee substitute printed 21103931D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-01-29** Impact statement from DPB (SB1260S1)
- **2021-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-02** Committee substitute agreed to 21103931D-S1
- **2021-02-02** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1260S1
- **2021-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-02** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Transportation
- **2021-02-09** Assigned Transportation sub: Transportation Systems `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-11** Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-16** Reported from Transportation (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-18** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-19** Amendments by Delegate McQuinn agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2021-02-19** Passed House with amendments (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-19** VOTE: Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-23** House amendments agreed to by Senate (38-Y 1-N)
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled
- **2021-02-25** Signed by President
- **2021-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-01** Impact statement from DPB (SB1260ER)
- **2021-03-01** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
- **2021-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 60 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/69c4e41d-c409-4b1b-b701-053a35a58212`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).