Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
6.2 KiB
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 | |||||
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| Bill | Zoning; development and use of accessory dwelling units, delayed effective date. | Zoning; development and use of accessory dwelling units. Requires a locality to include in its zoning ordinances for single-family residential zoning districts accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, as defined in the bill, as a permitted accessory use. The bill requires a person to seek a permit for an ADU from the locality, requires the locality to issue such permit if the person meets certain requirements enumerated in the bill, and restricts the fee for such permit to $500 or less. The bill prohibits the locality from requiring (i) setbacks for the ADU that are greater than the setback required for the primary dwelling or the setback required for accessory structures on the residential lot, whichever is less; (ii) conditions for ADUs that are more restrictive than those for single-family dwellings within the same zoning area with regard to height, rear, or side setbacks, lot size or coverage, or building frontage; or (iii) consanguinity or affinity between the occupants of the ADU and the primary dwelling. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. | us/states/va | Virginia General Assembly | 2026 | SB 531 | Virginia SB 531 (2026) |
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enacted |
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3 | 28 | 6 | 2026-01-13 | 2026-04-13 | openstates | ocd-bill/80203b95-6166-4d57-9329-8cf62243b433 | https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB531 | 170cbef941fbc06352d0c4972c96397376c1211f3ba5b3b5be0fde8be49fc77d | 2026-07-01 | https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump | 2026-07-06 | reported |
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Virginia SB 531 (2026) — Zoning; development and use of accessory dwelling units, delayed effective date.
Zoning; development and use of accessory dwelling units. Requires a locality to include in its zoning ordinances for single-family residential zoning districts accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, as defined in the bill, as a permitted accessory use. The bill requires a person to seek a permit for an ADU from the locality, requires the locality to issue such permit if the person meets certain requirements enumerated in the bill, and restricts the fee for such permit to $500 or less. The bill prohibits the locality from requiring (i) setbacks for the ADU that are greater than the setback required for the primary dwelling or the setback required for accessory structures on the residential lot, whichever is less; (ii) conditions for ADUs that are more restrictive than those for single-family dwellings within the same zoning area with regard to height, rear, or side setbacks, lot size or coverage, or building frontage; or (iii) consanguinity or affinity between the occupants of the ADU and the primary dwelling. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
- Introduced (filed) — source
- Local Government Substitute (committee substitute) — source
- Enrolled (enrolled) — source
Votes
- Passage R — 21–19 (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — 40–0 (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns — 13–8 (pass) · lower
- Rereferred from General Laws and Technology — 15–0 (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — 62–37 (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government with substitute — 8–7 (pass) · upper
Sponsors
- Kannan Srinivasan — primary (person)
- Saddam Azlan Salim — cosponsor (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- 2026-01-13 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26105326D
filing, introduction - 2026-01-13 Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology
referral-committee - 2026-01-21 Rereferred from General Laws and Technology to Local Government (15-Y 0-N)
referral-committee - 2026-02-09 Senate committee offered
- 2026-02-09 Reported from Local Government with substitute (8-Y 7-N)
committee-passage - 2026-02-09 Committee substitute printed 26107523D-S1
substitution - 2026-02-10 Rules suspended
- 2026-02-10 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- 2026-02-10 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- 2026-02-11 Read second time
reading-2 - 2026-02-11 Committee substitute agreed to (Voice Vote)
substitution - 2026-02-11 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute (Voice Vote)
substitution - 2026-02-12 Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A)
passage, reading-3 - 2026-02-17 Placed on Calendar
- 2026-02-17 Read first time
reading-1 - 2026-02-17 Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns
referral-committee - 2026-02-17 Assigned HCCT sub: Subcommittee #3
referral-committee - 2026-02-27 Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (13-Y 8-N)
committee-passage - 2026-03-03 Read second time
reading-2 - 2026-03-04 Read third time
reading-3 - 2026-03-04 Passed House (62-Y 37-N 0-A)
passage - 2026-03-10 Enrolled
enrolled - 2026-03-10 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB531ER)
passage - 2026-03-10 Signed by Speaker
passage - 2026-03-10 Signed by President
passage - 2026-03-14 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026
enrolled, executive-receipt - 2026-03-14 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026
executive-receipt - 2026-04-13 Approved by Governor-Chapter 895 (effective 7/1/2026)
executive-signature
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/80203b95-6166-4d57-9329-8cf62243b433. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).