republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/sb-477.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Historical African American cemeteries; changes date of establishment for qualification of funds."
description: "Historical African American cemeteries. Changes the date of establishment that qualifies historical African American cemeteries for appropriated funds to care for such cemeteries from prior to January 1, 1900, to prior to January 1, 1948, and provides that the total number of graves in a qualifying cemetery shall be the number of markers of African Americans who were interred in such cemetery prior to January 1, 1948. Under current law, the total number of graves is the number of markers of African Americans who lived at any time between January 1, 1800, and January 1, 1900. This bill is identical to HB 140."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 477"
citation: "Virginia SB 477 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jennifer L. McClellan"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fad76ce9-af1c-4d61-99d0-f65c8c8d8a9f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB477"
source_hash: "4d5a7c5ebd17e585f23cc322964a7022f98921036ada744fab79b767043041af"
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 SB 477 (2022) — Historical African American cemeteries; changes date of establishment for qualification of funds.

Historical African American cemeteries. Changes the date of establishment that qualifies historical African American cemeteries for appropriated funds to care for such cemeteries from prior to January 1, 1900, to prior to January 1, 1948, and provides that the total number of graves in a qualifying cemetery shall be the number of markers of African Americans who were interred in such cemetery prior to January 1, 1948. Under current law, the total number of graves is the number of markers of African Americans who lived at any time between January 1, 1800, and January 1, 1900. This bill is identical to HB 140.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0187** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0187)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101065D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB477)
3. **Printed as engrossed 22101065D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB477E)
4. **SB477ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB477ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jennifer L. McClellan — primary (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Delores L. McQuinn — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101065D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (SB477)
- **2022-02-02** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-02** Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-02** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-09** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (16-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-11** Printed as engrossed 22101065D-E
- **2022-02-11** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-11** Reading of amendment waived
- **2022-02-11** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-02-11** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB477E
- **2022-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-11** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-14** Impact statement from DPB (SB477E)
- **2022-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-21** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-02** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-07** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-07** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-07** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-10** Enrolled
- **2022-03-10** Impact statement from DPB (SB477ER)
- **2022-03-10** Signed by President
- **2022-03-10** Signed by Speaker
- **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
- **2022-04-07** Approved by Governor-Chapter 187 (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/fad76ce9-af1c-4d61-99d0-f65c8c8d8a9f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).