republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/sb-657.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Air Pollution Control Board and State Water Control Board; transfer of authority."
description: "Air Pollution Control Board and State Water Control Board; transfer of authority to Department of Environmental Quality. Limits the authority of the Air Pollution Control Board and the State Water Control Board to issuance of regulations and transfers the Boards' existing authority to issue permits and orders to the Department of Environmental Quality. The bill provides procedures for public comment on pending controversial permits, defined in the bill, and on regulatory changes necessary to implement the provisions of the bill. This bill incorporates SB 81."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 657"
citation: "Virginia SB 657 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard H. Stuart"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 40
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-19"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/79ff5ef8-5106-47b6-a5f5-1f915b728508"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB657"
source_hash: "1be105fd3f76bd44e4dd6aaa0e0ae7b1c59ff56b06619977fcc8d233d97a57b1"
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 657 (2022) — Air Pollution Control Board and State Water Control Board; transfer of authority.

Air Pollution Control Board and State Water Control Board; transfer of authority to Department of Environmental Quality. Limits the authority of the Air Pollution Control Board and the State Water Control Board to issuance of regulations and transfers the Boards' existing authority to issue permits and orders to the Department of Environmental Quality. The bill provides procedures for public comment on pending controversial permits, defined in the bill, and on regulatory changes necessary to implement the provisions of the bill. This bill incorporates SB 81.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0356** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0356)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22106267D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB657S1)
3. **Presented and ordered printed 22103747D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB657)
4. **SB657ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB657ER)
5. **SB657S2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB657S2)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (11-Y 4-N) — **11–4** (pass) · upper
- Committee substitute reconsidered (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 8-N) — **32–8** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage #2 (51-Y 47-N) — **50–47** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (52-Y 46-N) — **51–46** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (12-Y 10-N) — **12–10** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Richard H. Stuart — primary (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 22103747D `introduction`
- **2022-01-19** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Impact statement from DPB (SB657)
- **2022-02-08** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-08** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (11-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-08** Committee substitute printed 22106267D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-08** Incorporates SB81 (Stanley)
- **2022-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-10** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 22106267D-S1
- **2022-02-10** Passed by for the day
- **2022-02-11** Floor substitute printed 22106534D-S2 (Mason)
- **2022-02-11** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-11** Committee substitute reconsidered (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-11** Committee substitute rejected 22106267D-S1
- **2022-02-11** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-02-11** Substitute by Senator Mason agreed to 22106534D-S2
- **2022-02-11** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB657S2
- **2022-02-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB657S1)
- **2022-02-14** Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 8-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (SB657S2)
- **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`
- **2022-02-23** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (12-Y 10-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-28** Passed House (52-Y 46-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-28** VOTE: Passage (52-Y 46-N)
- **2022-02-28** Reconsideration of House passage agreed to by House
- **2022-02-28** Passed House (51-Y 47-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-28** VOTE: Passage #2 (51-Y 47-N)
- **2022-03-02** Enrolled
- **2022-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (SB657ER)
- **2022-03-03** Signed by President
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 356 (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/79ff5ef8-5106-47b6-a5f5-1f915b728508`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).