republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-846.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Land Conservation Foundation; purposes of foundation, easements."
description: "Virginia Land Conservation Foundation. Allows the Virginia Land Conservation Board of Trustees to waive the requirement for a holder of a conservation easement to have such easement jointly held with a public body whenever such holder acquires any interest in land other than a fee simple interest from a grant or transfer from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, provided that such holder is accredited by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission or meets a similar set of standards and practices adopted by the Board of Trustees and the easement contains a third party right of enforcement, as defined in relevant law, in favor of the Department of Conservation and Recreation or another public body."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 846"
citation: "Virginia HB 846 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hillary Pugh Kent"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3656a76b-8cbc-49c8-bd21-defe7cbb7f49"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB846"
source_hash: "a81d1796b4d0cd67a2118ad8e0fa3ee8fd8afafa83d7e82949ddc4f23e25e60c"
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 846 (2026) — Virginia Land Conservation Foundation; purposes of foundation, easements.

Virginia Land Conservation Foundation. Allows the Virginia Land Conservation Board of Trustees to waive the requirement for a holder of a conservation easement to have such easement jointly held with a public body whenever such holder acquires any interest in land other than a fee simple interest from a grant or transfer from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, provided that such holder is accredited by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission or meets a similar set of standards and practices adopted by the Board of Trustees and the easement contains a third party right of enforcement, as defined in relevant law, in favor of the Department of Conservation and Recreation or another public body.

## 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/1086172.PDF)
2. **Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1128494.PDF)
3. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217822.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1191193.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hillary Pugh Kent — primary (person)
- Amy J. Laufer — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104916D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-26** Assigned HACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-28** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-28** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2026-02-04** House committee offered
- **2026-02-04** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-05** Committee substitute printed 26107146D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-09** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-09** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-10** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-16** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB846)
- **2026-02-24** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-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 Senate (37-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-04** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB846ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB846)
- **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`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 433 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0433)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3656a76b-8cbc-49c8-bd21-defe7cbb7f49`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).