Fabio
104 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
104 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "Comprehensive plan; environmental justice strategy."
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description: "Comprehensive plan; environmental justice strategy. Requires cities with populations greater than 20,000 and counties with populations greater than 100,000 to consider, beginning July 1, 2026, at the next and all subsequent reviews of the comprehensive plan, adopting an environmental justice strategy. The bill provides that the locality's strategy shall be to identify environmental justice and fenceline communities within the jurisdiction of the local planning commission and identify objectives and policies to reduce health risks, to promote civic engagement, to prioritize improvements and programs that address the needs of environmental justice and fenceline communities, as those terms are defined in the bill, and to establish baseline environmental and health conditions to characterize any disproportionate public health conditions in the identified fenceline communities. This bill is identical to SB 425."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
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legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
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session: "2026"
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identifier: "HB 256"
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citation: "Virginia HB 256 (2026)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Shelly A. Simonds"]
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version_count: 4
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action_count: 29
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vote_count: 8
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first_action: "2026-01-09"
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last_action: "2026-04-13"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/75a6bb41-edc1-4fe4-b789-6a47b92d1459"
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source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB256"
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source_hash: "e50a947608a9956928e9e49149e0d4bf1e83e2eb6551c407b3dfdf2b5ad28ea1"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
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---
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# Virginia HB 256 (2026) — Comprehensive plan; environmental justice strategy.
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Comprehensive plan; environmental justice strategy. Requires cities with populations greater than 20,000 and counties with populations greater than 100,000 to consider, beginning July 1, 2026, at the next and all subsequent reviews of the comprehensive plan, adopting an environmental justice strategy. The bill provides that the locality's strategy shall be to identify environmental justice and fenceline communities within the jurisdiction of the local planning commission and identify objectives and policies to reduce health risks, to promote civic engagement, to prioritize improvements and programs that address the needs of environmental justice and fenceline communities, as those terms are defined in the bill, and to establish baseline environmental and health conditions to characterize any disproportionate public health conditions in the identified fenceline communities. This bill is identical to SB 425.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1083302.PDF)
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2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1218869.PDF)
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3. **Local Government Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1189878.PDF)
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4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1203508.PDF)
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## Votes
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- H VOTE: — **63–35** (pass) · lower
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- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **15–7** (pass) · lower
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- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–3** (pass) · lower
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- Passage R — **21–19** (pass) · upper
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- Rereferred from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **13–0** (pass) · upper
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- H VOTE: — **63–35** (pass) · lower
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- Reported from Local Government with substitute — **8–7** (pass) · upper
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- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
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## Sponsors
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- Shelly A. Simonds — primary (person)
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- Charlie Schmidt — cosponsor (person)
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- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker — cosponsor (person)
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- Gretchen M. Bulova — cosponsor (person)
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- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
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- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
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- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
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- Margaret A. Franklin — cosponsor (person)
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- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2026-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103226D `filing, introduction`
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- **2026-01-09** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
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- **2026-01-19** Assigned HACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
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- **2026-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 3-N)
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- **2026-01-28** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2026-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
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- **2026-02-02** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
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- **2026-02-03** Read third time and passed House (63-Y 35-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
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- **2026-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
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- **2026-02-04** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
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- **2026-02-24** Rereferred from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources to Local Government (13-Y 0-N) `referral-committee`
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- **2026-03-02** Reported from Local Government with substitute (8-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2026-03-02** Committee substitute printed 26109038D-S1 `substitution`
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- **2026-03-03** Rules suspended
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- **2026-03-03** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
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- **2026-03-03** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
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- **2026-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2026-03-04** Local Government Substitute agreed to
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- **2026-03-04** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
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- **2026-03-04** Passed Senate with substitute (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage`
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- **2026-03-06** Senate substitute agreed to by House (63-Y 35-N 0-A) `substitution`
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- **2026-03-13** Enrolled `enrolled`
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- **2026-03-13** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB256ER) `passage`
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- **2026-03-13** Signed by Speaker `passage`
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- **2026-03-13** Signed by President `passage`
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- **2026-03-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
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- **2026-03-14** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
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- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 581 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
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- **2026-04-13** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0581)
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/75a6bb41-edc1-4fe4-b789-6a47b92d1459`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
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