republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/hb-961.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Cemeteries; registration, publication prior to sale."
description: "Cemeteries; registration; publication prior to sale. Expands provisions that allow localities to adopt an ordinance setting forth a register of identified cemeteries, graveyards, or other places of burial located on private property not belonging to any memorial or monumental association by providing that such localities shall publish a notice prior to the public sale of any publicly owned property that contains a known cemetery, graveyard, or other place of burial, or as soon thereafter as possible. The notice shall specify that a cemetery is present on the property. If the property falls under an exception provided for significant historic and archeological sites that would be jeopardized by public disclosure of their location, then no such notice is required."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 961"
citation: "Virginia HB 961 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Danica A. Roem"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 33
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-12"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f4883162-1f30-4ac1-9579-7342bb709c83"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB961"
source_hash: "6df245b22b770bddea38c864d77a0871c5e227adbff8cc857bfc94883fdc63ea"
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 961 (2022) — Cemeteries; registration, publication prior to sale.

Cemeteries; registration; publication prior to sale. Expands provisions that allow localities to adopt an ordinance setting forth a register of identified cemeteries, graveyards, or other places of burial located on private property not belonging to any memorial or monumental association by providing that such localities shall publish a notice prior to the public sale of any publicly owned property that contains a known cemetery, graveyard, or other place of burial, or as soon thereafter as possible. The notice shall specify that a cemetery is present on the property. If the property falls under an exception provided for significant historic and archeological sites that would be jeopardized by public disclosure of their location, then no such notice is required.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0369** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0369)
2. **HB961ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB961ER)
3. **HB961H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB961H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100951D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB961)

## Votes

- Passed Senate with amendment (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 0-N) — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (89-Y 10-N) — **88–10** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Adoption (91-Y 6-N) — **90–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Danica A. Roem — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100951D `introduction`
- **2022-01-12** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-24** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-28** Impact statement from DHCD/CLG (HB961)
- **2022-02-04** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-04** Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-11** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-11** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-14** Floor substitute printed 22106601D-H1 (Roem)
- **2022-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-14** Substitute by Delegate Roem agreed to 22106601D-H1
- **2022-02-14** Engrossed by House - floor substitute HB961H1
- **2022-02-15** Read third time and passed House (89-Y 10-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-15** VOTE: Passage (89-Y 10-N)
- **2022-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-16** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-02** Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-04** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-07** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-08** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-08** Reading of amendment waived
- **2022-03-08** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-03-08** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2022-03-08** Passed Senate with amendment (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-09** Senate amendment agreed to by House (91-Y 6-N)
- **2022-03-09** VOTE: Adoption (91-Y 6-N)
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled
- **2022-03-11** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-11** Signed by President
- **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 369 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f4883162-1f30-4ac1-9579-7342bb709c83`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).