republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/sb-538.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Nonpayment of wages; defense of contractor."
description: "Nonpayment of wages; defense of contractor. Provides that a general contractor or subcontractor, regardless of tier, may submit as evidence in defending against a claim for nonpayment a written certification, under oath, from any lower-tier subcontractor stating that (i) the subcontractor and each of his sub-subcontractors has paid all employees all wages due for the period during which the wages are claimed for the work performed on the project and (ii) to the subcontractor's knowledge, all sub-subcontractors below the subcontractor, regardless of tier, have similarly paid their employees all such wages. This bill is identical to HB 889."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 538"
citation: "Virginia SB 538 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark J. Peake"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 44
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-01-12"
last_action: "2022-04-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/48aef1c7-6798-4cbf-8f5c-96277f8ac251"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB538"
source_hash: "6ccb6c1a79c05da330c7b613526c6bfa4a6847ce91cc8fbf0a861d8487e363c4"
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 538 (2022) — Nonpayment of wages; defense of contractor.

Nonpayment of wages; defense of contractor. Provides that a general contractor or subcontractor, regardless of tier, may submit as evidence in defending against a claim for nonpayment a written certification, under oath, from any lower-tier subcontractor stating that (i) the subcontractor and each of his sub-subcontractors has paid all employees all wages due for the period during which the wages are claimed for the work performed on the project and (ii) to the subcontractor's knowledge, all sub-subcontractors below the subcontractor, regardless of tier, have similarly paid their employees all such wages. This bill is identical to HB 889.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0726** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0726)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22105298D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB538S1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 22106854D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB538H1)
4. **SB538ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB538ER)
5. **SB538ER2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB538ER2)

## Votes

- VOTE: Adoption (72-Y 27-N) — **71–27** (pass) · lower
- Rereferred from Judiciary (11-Y 4-N) — **11–4** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute (14-Y 1-N) — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Energy with substitute (14-Y 8-N) — **14–8** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (37-Y 3-N) — **37–3** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (65-Y 34-N) — **64–34** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark J. Peake — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22102773D `introduction`
- **2022-01-12** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-26** Rereferred from Judiciary (11-Y 4-N)
- **2022-01-26** Rereferred to Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-28** Assigned C&L sub: Labor and Employment `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-01** Impact statement from DPB (SB538)
- **2022-02-03** Senate subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-07** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-07** Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute (14-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-07** Committee substitute printed 22105298D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-09** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-02-09** Committee substitute agreed to 22105298D-S1
- **2022-02-09** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB538S1
- **2022-02-10** Read third time and passed Senate (37-Y 3-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-14** Impact statement from DPB (SB538S1)
- **2022-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-21** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Energy `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-22** Reported from Commerce and Energy with substitute (14-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-22** Committee substitute printed 22106854D-H1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-25** Committee substitute rejected 22106854D-H1
- **2022-02-25** Passed House (65-Y 34-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-25** VOTE: Passage (65-Y 34-N)
- **2022-03-01** Enrolled
- **2022-03-01** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (SB538ER)
- **2022-03-02** Signed by President
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Governor's recommendation received by Senate
- **2022-04-27** Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-04-27** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (72-Y 27-N)
- **2022-04-27** VOTE: Adoption (72-Y 27-N)
- **2022-04-27** Governor's recommendation adopted
- **2022-04-27** Reenrolled
- **2022-04-27** Reenrolled bill text (SB538ER2)
- **2022-04-27** Signed by President as reenrolled
- **2022-04-27** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
- **2022-04-27** Enacted, Chapter 726 (effective 7/1/22) `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/48aef1c7-6798-4cbf-8f5c-96277f8ac251`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).