5a13be122b
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
116 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "Public utilities; budget plan payment increases."
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description: "Public utilities; budget plan payment increases. Prohibits a public utility from, for any residential customer who is enrolled in a budget plan, increasing the amount of such customer's monthly payment more than once within any 12-month period or without notifying the customer in writing at least 60 days before such increase takes effect. The bill defines \"budget plan\" as a fixed billing option offered by a public utility to a customer whereby the total service for the succeeding 12-month period is estimated in advance and bills are rendered monthly on the basis of one-twelfth of the 12-month estimate. The provisions of the bill do not apply to any public utility engaged in the business of furnishing water or sewerage facilities."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
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legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
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session: "2026"
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identifier: "HB 242"
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citation: "Virginia HB 242 (2026)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Joshua G. Cole"]
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version_count: 8
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action_count: 33
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vote_count: 7
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first_action: "2026-01-08"
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last_action: "2026-04-08"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ecf982d1-44e0-4795-9601-9cd32ce85a88"
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source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB242"
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source_hash: "55cc4f95bfd916ceeda18564696d11074ffe6d56128dcee7a2c8bd51b87570d2"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
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---
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# Virginia HB 242 (2026) — Public utilities; budget plan payment increases.
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Public utilities; budget plan payment increases. Prohibits a public utility from, for any residential customer who is enrolled in a budget plan, increasing the amount of such customer's monthly payment more than once within any 12-month period or without notifying the customer in writing at least 60 days before such increase takes effect. The bill defines "budget plan" as a fixed billing option offered by a public utility to a customer whereby the total service for the succeeding 12-month period is estimated in advance and bills are rendered monthly on the basis of one-twelfth of the 12-month estimate. The provisions of the bill do not apply to any public utility engaged in the business of furnishing water or sewerage facilities.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1083242.PDF)
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2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217758.PDF)
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3. **Commerce and Labor Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1190937.HTML)
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4. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1095649.PDF)
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5. **Labor and Commerce Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1094642.HTML)
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6. **Senate Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1196684.HTML)
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7. **Subcommittee #3 Subcommittee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1092421.HTML)
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8. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1208783.PDF)
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## Votes
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- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — **8–1** (pass) · lower
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- H VOTE: — **93–4** (pass) · lower
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- Passage R — **37–2** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from Labor and Commerce with amendment(s) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
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- H VOTE: — **97–0** (pass) · lower
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- Reported from Commerce and Labor with amendment — **12–1** (pass) · upper
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- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
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## Sponsors
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- Joshua G. Cole — primary (person)
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- Adele Y. McClure — cosponsor (person)
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- Amy J. Laufer — cosponsor (person)
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- Charlie Schmidt — cosponsor (person)
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- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
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- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
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- Jessica L. Anderson — cosponsor (person)
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- Michelle Lopes Maldonado — cosponsor (person)
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- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)
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- Nicole Cole — cosponsor (person)
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- Rozia A. Henson, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
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- Saddam Azlan Salim — cosponsor (person)
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- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
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- Stacey Annie Carroll — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2026-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103219D `filing, introduction`
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- **2026-01-08** Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce `referral-committee`
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- **2026-01-15** Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
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- **2026-01-20** House subcommittee offered
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- **2026-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (8-Y 1-N)
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- **2026-01-22** Reported from Labor and Commerce with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2026-01-26** Read first time `reading-1`
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- **2026-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
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- **2026-01-27** committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
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- **2026-01-27** Engrossed by House as amended
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- **2026-01-27** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (HB242)
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- **2026-01-28** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
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- **2026-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
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- **2026-01-29** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
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- **2026-03-02** Senate committee offered
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- **2026-03-02** Reported from Commerce and Labor with amendment (12-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2026-03-04** Rules suspended
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- **2026-03-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
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- **2026-03-04** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
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- **2026-03-05** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2026-03-05** Commerce and Labor Amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
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- **2026-03-05** Engrossed by Senate as amended
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- **2026-03-05** Passed Senate with amendment (37-Y 2-N 0-A) `passage`
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- **2026-03-09** Senate amendment agreed to by House (93-Y 4-N 0-A) `amendment-passage`
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- **2026-03-14** Enrolled `enrolled`
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- **2026-03-14** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB242ER) `passage`
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- **2026-03-14** Signed by Speaker `passage`
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- **2026-03-14** Signed by President `passage`
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- **2026-03-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 25, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
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- **2026-03-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
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- **2026-03-25** Fiscal Impact statement From DPB (3/25/2026 2:39 pm)
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- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 373 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
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- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0373)
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ecf982d1-44e0-4795-9601-9cd32ce85a88`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
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