republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-397.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program."
description: "Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Air Pollution Control Board to establish and maintain a market-based trading program consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program, as defined in existing law, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generating units in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to SB 802."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 397"
citation: "Virginia HB 397 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charniele L. Herring"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-12"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0d39028a-20ee-47b7-899d-ea828be5af9f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB397"
source_hash: "c73df857eddeab1d7b6c03f74b24fd5c005dd9d7b7e868831e2767c659f0e76f"
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 HB 397 (2026) — Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program.

Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Air Pollution Control Board to establish and maintain a market-based trading program consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program, as defined in existing law, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generating units in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to SB 802.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1084275.PDF)
2. **Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1100560.PDF)
3. **Natural Resources Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1093229.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1193743.PDF)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–3** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **63–35** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **21–19** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **8–6** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Charniele L. Herring — primary (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Bonita G. Anthony — cosponsor (person)
- David W. Marsden — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
- Kannan Srinivasan — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret A. Franklin — cosponsor (person)
- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
- Saddam Azlan Salim — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104232D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-12** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-19** Assigned HACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 3-N) `substitution`
- **2026-01-28** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-28** Committee substitute printed 26105867D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-01-29** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB397)
- **2026-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-02** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-02** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-03** Read third time and passed House (63-Y 35-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-04** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-24** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-26** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-26** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-26** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-27** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-27** Passed by for the day
- **2026-03-02** Passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-05** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB397ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB397)
- **2026-03-05** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 920 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0d39028a-20ee-47b7-899d-ea828be5af9f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).