republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-701.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	Vested rights; building permits.	Vested rights; building permits. Provides that if a locality has issued a building permit, despite nonconformance with the zoning ordinance, and a property owner, relying in good faith on the issuance of the building permit, incurs extensive obligations or substantial expenses in diligent pursuit of a building project that is in conformance with the building permit and the Uniform Statewide Building Code, the locality shall not treat such building as an illegal use but rather as a legal nonconforming use. Current law requires that such project be completed and a certificate of occupancy issued in order to receive such protection.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2024	SB 701	Virginia SB 701 (2024)	bill		enacted	Timmy F. French	4	31	6	2024-01-19	2024-04-05	openstates	ocd-bill/be3c9fb0-048d-4063-bad3-3d19b5062287	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB701	81e25e354855621d5c42baa9e2467129ed6c76d469131cf64fbbc96cf5869ccf	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 701 (2024) — Vested rights; building permits.

Vested rights; building permits. Provides that if a locality has issued a building permit, despite nonconformance with the zoning ordinance, and a property owner, relying in good faith on the issuance of the building permit, incurs extensive obligations or substantial expenses in diligent pursuit of a building project that is in conformance with the building permit and the Uniform Statewide Building Code, the locality shall not treat such building as an illegal use but rather as a legal nonconforming use. Current law requires that such project be completed and a certificate of occupancy issued in order to receive such protection.

Version chain

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

1. CHAP0605 (committee substitute) — source
2. Presented and ordered printed 24104047D (committee substitute) — source
3. Printed as engrossed 24104047D-E (committee substitute) — source
4. SB701ER (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (14-Y 0-N 1-A) — 14–0 (pass) · upper
• 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
• Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — 96–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Timmy F. French — primary (person)
• Angelia Williams Graves — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2024-01-19 Presented and ordered printed 24104047D introduction
• 2024-01-19 Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology referral-committee
• 2024-02-07 Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (14-Y 0-N 1-A) committee-passage
• 2024-02-08 Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
• 2024-02-09 Passed by for the day
• 2024-02-12 Passed by temporarily
• 2024-02-12 Read second time reading-2
• 2024-02-12 Committee amendment rejected amendment-failure
• 2024-02-12 Reading of amendment waived
• 2024-02-12 Amendment by Senator French agreed to amendment-passage
• 2024-02-12 Engrossed by Senate as amended SB701E
• 2024-02-12 Printed as engrossed 24104047D-E
• 2024-02-13 Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2024-02-16 Placed on Calendar
• 2024-02-16 Read first time reading-1
• 2024-02-16 Referred to Committee on General Laws referral-committee
• 2024-02-19 Assigned GL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection referral-committee
• 2024-02-22 Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
• 2024-02-27 Reported from General Laws (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-02-29 Read second time reading-2
• 2024-03-01 Read third time reading-3
• 2024-03-01 Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) passage
• 2024-03-01 VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) passage
• 2024-03-06 Enrolled enrolled
• 2024-03-06 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB701ER) passage
• 2024-03-06 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2024-03-07 Signed by President passage
• 2024-03-11 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 enrolled
• 2024-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 executive-receipt
• 2024-04-05 Approved by Governor-Chapter 605 (effective 7/1/24) executive-signature
• 2024-04-05 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0605)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/be3c9fb0-048d-4063-bad3-3d19b5062287. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).