republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-650.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public utilities; water and sewerage companies, discounted rates for low-income customers."
description: "Public utilities; water and sewerage companies; discounted rates for low-income customers. Provides that a public utility engaged in the business of furnishing water or sewerage facilities may propose and the State Corporation Commission may approve rates and tariff provisions that provide discounted service to customers with an annual household income equal to or less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill permits the utility to recover the costs of providing such discounted service through its rates for commercial and industrial customers. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027, and is identical to HB 770."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 650"
citation: "Virginia SB 650 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David W. Marsden"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4e218faf-e085-4f3d-953e-6691fe94d34b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB650"
source_hash: "4980cac1507c7f1a2903cc5277cb814a730763a80393d199c4efc1397b86600b"
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 SB 650 (2026) — Public utilities; water and sewerage companies, discounted rates for low-income customers.

Public utilities; water and sewerage companies; discounted rates for low-income customers. Provides that a public utility engaged in the business of furnishing water or sewerage facilities may propose and the State Corporation Commission may approve rates and tariff provisions that provide discounted service to customers with an annual household income equal to or less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill permits the utility to recover the costs of providing such discounted service through its rates for commercial and industrial customers. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027, and is identical to HB 770.

## 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/1091633.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216869.PDF)
3. **Labor and Commerce Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1191707.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1209880.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **63–34** (pass) · lower
- Concur House Substitute R — **23–17** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Labor — **11–4** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **23–17** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- David W. Marsden — primary (person)
- Kannan Srinivasan — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-14** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103786D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-14** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-12** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (SB650)
- **2026-02-12** Reported from Commerce and Labor (11-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-13** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-13** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (35-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-13** Passed by for the day
- **2026-02-16** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-16** Engrossed by Senate (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-17** Read third time and passed Senate (23-Y 17-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-24** Placed on Calendar
- **2026-02-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-24** Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03** Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-03** Committee substitute printed 26109086D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-03-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-06** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-06** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-03-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-03-06** Passed House with substitute (63-Y 34-N 1-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-10** House substitute agreed to by Senate (23-Y 17-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-24** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (SB650)
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB650ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (SB650)
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 218 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0218)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4e218faf-e085-4f3d-953e-6691fe94d34b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).