republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2738.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public utilities; acquisition of rights-of-way for economic development sites."
description: "Authorizes a public utility providing water, sewer, electric, or natural gas service to propose an Economic Development Program (Program) under which it may acquire utility right-of-way for one or more qualified economic development sites. A proposal for a Program is required to include an analysis of how acquiring the rights-of-way will enhance the Commonwealth's infrastructure and promote the Commonwealth's competitive business environment by improving the readiness of a qualified economic development site. The measure establishes criteria for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to certify that an industrial site is a qualified economic development site. The State Corporation Commission (SCC) is authorized to approve a proposal for a Program that satisfies certain conditions, including findings that (i) implementation of the Program will provide significant economic development benefits that might not otherwise be attained absent its approval and (ii) the Program is designed only to acquire utility rights-of-way to a qualified economic development site and not to provide service to other customers or potential customers. A utility's capital investment is capped at one percent of gross plant investment in the aggregate of all of the utility's Programs and at $5 million for any specific qualified economic development site. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2738"
citation: "Virginia HB 2738 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Service Companies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lamont Bagby"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-01-16"
last_action: "2019-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e5e9bf1d-e233-49c0-a88a-a073d7be96f2"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2738"
source_hash: "c6b0b507e36071fdb556392ae95e2860bd19f76b53aa8c4f732805baaadab2c2"
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 2738 (2019) — Public utilities; acquisition of rights-of-way for economic development sites.

Authorizes a public utility providing water, sewer, electric, or natural gas service to propose an Economic Development Program (Program) under which it may acquire utility right-of-way for one or more qualified economic development sites. A proposal for a Program is required to include an analysis of how acquiring the rights-of-way will enhance the Commonwealth's infrastructure and promote the Commonwealth's competitive business environment by improving the readiness of a qualified economic development site. The measure establishes criteria for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to certify that an industrial site is a qualified economic development site. The State Corporation Commission (SCC) is authorized to approve a proposal for a Program that satisfies certain conditions, including findings that (i) implementation of the Program will provide significant economic development benefits that might not otherwise be attained absent its approval and (ii) the Program is designed only to acquire utility rights-of-way to a qualified economic development site and not to provide service to other customers or potential customers. A utility's capital investment is capped at one percent of gross plant investment in the aggregate of all of the utility's Programs and at $5 million for any specific qualified economic development site. 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 (CHAP0494)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0494)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2738ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2738ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105626D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2738H1)
4. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19104165D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2738)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **37–3** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Labor — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute — **19–1** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House — **85–13** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lamont Bagby — primary (person)
- Jeffrey M. Bourne — cosponsor (person)
- R. Steven Landes — cosponsor (person)
- Steve E. Heretick — cosponsor (person)
- Timothy D. Hugo — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-16** Presented and ordered printed 19104165D `introduction`
- **2019-01-16** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 19105626D-H1
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2738H1
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House (85-Y 13-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled
- **2019-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 21, 2019
- **2019-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 494 (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/e5e9bf1d-e233-49c0-a88a-a073d7be96f2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).