republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/hb-206.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Small renewable energy projects; impact on natural resources, report."
description: "Small renewable energy projects; impact on natural resources. Requires, as a condition for a permit by rule for a small energy project, that the applicant conduct an analysis of the beneficial and adverse impacts of the proposed project on natural resources. The bill requires that if the Department of Environmental Quality determines that there will be a significant adverse impact on wildlife, historic resources, prime agricultural soils, or forest lands, the applicant must also submit a mitigation plan with a 90-day public comment period. The bill specifies that a disturbance of (i) more than 10 acres of prime agricultural soils, (ii) more than 50 acres of contiguous forest lands, or (iii) forest lands enrolled in a forestry preservation program is deemed to be a significant adverse impact on natural resources. The bill directs the Department to convene an advisory panel to assist in developing regulations to further develop criteria for determining significant adverse impact on natural resources and guidelines for plans to mitigate such adverse impacts. Any application for a small renewable energy project received by the promulgation of new regulations or December 31, 2024, whichever is earlier, would not be subject to the act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 206"
citation: "Virginia HB 206 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Michael J. Webert"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 42
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-10"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dfa0fe3f-af5b-48ad-bee9-5fd91a1239a7"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB206"
source_hash: "d1f978b0e5df9fe4bd511dea7a3a169be1c9d8558d9de71131db1dc96250c3c8"
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 206 (2022) — Small renewable energy projects; impact on natural resources, report.

Small renewable energy projects; impact on natural resources. Requires, as a condition for a permit by rule for a small energy project, that the applicant conduct an analysis of the beneficial and adverse impacts of the proposed project on natural resources. The bill requires that if the Department of Environmental Quality determines that there will be a significant adverse impact on wildlife, historic resources, prime agricultural soils, or forest lands, the applicant must also submit a mitigation plan with a 90-day public comment period. The bill specifies that a disturbance of (i) more than 10 acres of prime agricultural soils, (ii) more than 50 acres of contiguous forest lands, or (iii) forest lands enrolled in a forestry preservation program is deemed to be a significant adverse impact on natural resources. The bill directs the Department to convene an advisory panel to assist in developing regulations to further develop criteria for determining significant adverse impact on natural resources and guidelines for plans to mitigate such adverse impacts. Any application for a small renewable energy project received by the promulgation of new regulations or December 31, 2024, whichever is earlier, would not be subject to the act.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0688** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0688)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22106363D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB206H1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 22107284D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB206S1)
4. **HB206ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB206ER)
5. **HB206H2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB206H2)
6. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101438D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB206)

## Votes

- VOTE: Adoption (91-Y 7-N) — **90–7** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (67-Y 32-N) — **66–32** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (13-Y 0-N 2-A) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (19-Y 2-N) — **19–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Michael J. Webert — primary (person)
- R. Lee Ware — cosponsor (person)
- Wendy W. Gooditis — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101438D `introduction`
- **2022-01-10** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-01** Impact statement from DPB (HB206)
- **2022-02-04** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-09** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-09** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-09** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-09** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-09** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (19-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-09** Committee substitute printed 22106363D-H1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-11** Impact statement from DPB (HB206H1)
- **2022-02-11** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-14** Floor substitute printed 22106540D-H2 (Ware)
- **2022-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-14** Committee on ACNR substitute rejected 22106363D-H1
- **2022-02-14** Substitute by Delegate Ware agreed to 22106540D-H2
- **2022-02-14** Engrossed by House - floor substitute HB206H2
- **2022-02-15** Read third time and passed House (67-Y 32-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-15** VOTE: Passage (67-Y 32-N)
- **2022-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-16** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB206H2)
- **2022-03-01** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-03-01** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (13-Y 0-N 2-A) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-01** Committee substitute printed 22107284D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB206S1)
- **2022-03-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-04** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-03-04** Committee substitute agreed to h4160
- **2022-03-04** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB206S1
- **2022-03-04** Passed Senate with substitute (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-08** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-09** Senate substitute agreed to by House 22107284D-S1 (91-Y 7-N)
- **2022-03-09** VOTE: Adoption (91-Y 7-N)
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled
- **2022-03-11** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-11** Signed by President
- **2022-03-15** Impact statement from DPB (HB206ER)
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 688 (effective - see bill) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dfa0fe3f-af5b-48ad-bee9-5fd91a1239a7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).