republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-942.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Industrial hemp; federal regulations, adoption in Virginia."
description: "Industrial hemp; federal regulations; adoption in Virginia. Directs the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to conform the regulations of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to any federal regulation adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, immediately upon publication in the Federal Register, that materially expands opportunities for growing, producing, or dealing in industrial hemp in the Commonwealth. The bill exempts such regulatory amendments by the Board from the Administrative Process Act. The bill contains an emergency clause."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 942"
citation: "Virginia HB 942 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Daniel W. Marshall, III"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 28
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ad3c8736-d3db-4c80-8d28-908efc395f0b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB942"
source_hash: "cc588ecbd1d41c37eef2c13eb4f72fa381fa3a9babc6d57a699367f0d2ad65fd"
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 942 (2020) — Industrial hemp; federal regulations, adoption in Virginia.

Industrial hemp; federal regulations; adoption in Virginia. Directs the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to conform the regulations of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to any federal regulation adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, immediately upon publication in the Federal Register, that materially expands opportunities for growing, producing, or dealing in industrial hemp in the Commonwealth. The bill exempts such regulatory amendments by the Board from the Administrative Process Act. The bill contains an emergency clause.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0620)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0620)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB942ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB942ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB942)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB942)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage Emergency (94-Y 0-N) — **93–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (12-Y 0-N) — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (36-Y 0-N) — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (36-Y 0-N) — **36–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Daniel W. Marshall, III — primary (person)
- Les R. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Roxann L. Robinson — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed with emergency clause; offered 01/08/20 20100902D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Assigned ACNR sub: Agriculture `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-24** Impact statement from DPB (HB942)
- **2020-01-29** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-03** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-04** Read third time and passed House (94-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-04** VOTE: Passage Emergency (94-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-05** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Assigned ACNR sub: Hemp `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-25** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (12-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-27** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-28** Passed Senate (37-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-28** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Passed Senate (36-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-28** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (36-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Passed Senate (37-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (HB942ER)
- **2020-03-06** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-06** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 620 (effective 4/2/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ad3c8736-d3db-4c80-8d28-908efc395f0b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).