republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-1770.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Alcoholic beverage control; Sunday store hours, distiller commission."
description: "Requires the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (the Authority) to pay a distiller who operates a government store on the distiller's licensed premises a commission of not less than 20 percent of the retail price of any goods sold. The bill also allows certain government stores, as determined by the Board of Directors (the Board) of the Authority, to be open on Sundays for the sale of alcoholic beverages after 10:00 a.m. Finally, the bill grants the Board the power to employ or retain in-house legal counsel to advise or represent the Authority in hearings, controversies, or other matters involving the interests of the Authority. The bill provides, however, that upon request by the Board, the Attorney General shall provide legal services for the Authority in accordance with current law. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1770"
citation: "Virginia HB 1770 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Alcoholic Beverage Control Act", "Authorities"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barry D. Knight"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 33
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2018-12-26"
last_action: "2019-03-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a1eff630-c7f7-4368-a587-13acc42ea539"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1770"
source_hash: "646dc0abfce1b9a9f27de4eb554725f7bf0349d2fb957b859e7466b4728ca4db"
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 1770 (2019) — Alcoholic beverage control; Sunday store hours, distiller commission.

Requires the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (the Authority) to pay a distiller who operates a government store on the distiller's licensed premises a commission of not less than 20 percent of the retail price of any goods sold. The bill also allows certain government stores, as determined by the Board of Directors (the Board) of the Authority, to be open on Sundays for the sale of alcoholic beverages after 10:00 a.m. Finally, the bill grants the Board the power to employ or retain in-house legal counsel to advise or represent the Authority in hearings, controversies, or other matters involving the interests of the Authority. The bill provides, however, that upon request by the Board, the Attorney General shall provide legal services for the Authority in accordance with current law. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0810)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0810)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1770AH)
3. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1770)
4. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1770ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1770ER)
5. **House: Conference substitute printed 19107301D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1770H1)
6. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102169D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1770)
7. **House: Printed as engrossed 19102169D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1770E)
8. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1770ASE)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House — **83–13** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendments — **12–2** (pass) · upper
- Senate amendments rejected by House — **0–91** (fail) · lower
- Conference report agreed to by House — **74–15** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations with amendments — **17–4** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendments — **33–7** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on amendments — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **33–7** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws — **21–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barry D. Knight — primary (person)
- James E. Edmunds, II — cosponsor (person)
- Nicholas J. Freitas — cosponsor (person)
- R. Creigh Deeds — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-12-26** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102169D `introduction`
- **2018-12-26** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-14** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-15** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2019-01-17** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-18** Assigned App. sub: Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House as amended HB1770E
- **2019-02-04** Printed as engrossed 19102169D-E
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House (83-Y 13-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-12** Reading of amendments waived
- **2019-02-12** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-02-12** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2019-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-13** Senate amendments rejected by House (0-Y 91-N)
- **2019-02-13** Senate requested conference committee
- **2019-02-13** House acceded to request
- **2019-02-13** Conferees appointed by House
- **2019-02-13** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2019-02-22** Amended by conference committee
- **2019-02-22** Conference substitute printed 19107301D-H1
- **2019-02-22** Conference report agreed to by House (74-Y 15-N)
- **2019-03-07** Enrolled
- **2019-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-03-09** Signed by President
- **2019-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2019
- **2019-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 810 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a1eff630-c7f7-4368-a587-13acc42ea539`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).