republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-770.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public utilities; water and sewerage companies, discounted rates for low-income customers."
description: "Public utilities; water and sewerage companies; discounted rates for low-income customers. Provides that a public utility engaged in the business of furnishing water or sewerage facilities may propose and the State Corporation Commission may approve rates and tariff provisions that provide discounted service to customers with an annual household income equal to or less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill permits the utility to recover the costs of providing such discounted service through its rates for commercial and industrial customers. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027, and is identical to SB 650."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 770"
citation: "Virginia HB 770 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charniele L. Herring"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1052e447-4c51-465a-a577-9d44075f1091"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB770"
source_hash: "9530c0061a17db090f0af6c3b52a629f26eda17da2d8f85d144e9b2d7cc693b5"
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 770 (2026) — Public utilities; water and sewerage companies, discounted rates for low-income customers.

Public utilities; water and sewerage companies; discounted rates for low-income customers. Provides that a public utility engaged in the business of furnishing water or sewerage facilities may propose and the State Corporation Commission may approve rates and tariff provisions that provide discounted service to customers with an annual household income equal to or less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill permits the utility to recover the costs of providing such discounted service through its rates for commercial and industrial customers. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027, and is identical to SB 650.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1085816.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216861.PDF)
3. **Labor and Commerce Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1132074.PDF)
4. **Subcommittee #3 Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1116022.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1187074.PDF)

## Votes

- Passage R — **24–16** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **64–33** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute — **15–7** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Labor — **10–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Charniele L. Herring — primary (person)
- Destiny LeVere Bolling — cosponsor (person)
- Karen Keys-Gamarra — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103508D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-22** Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-25** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (HB770)
- **2026-02-03** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-03** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 1-N) `substitution`
- **2026-02-05** Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (15-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-06** Committee substitute printed 26106979D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-10** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-10** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-11** Read third time and passed House (64-Y 33-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-12** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-12** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (HB770)
- **2026-02-23** Reported from Commerce and Labor (10-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-25** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-25** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-25** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-26** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-26** Passed Senate (24-Y 16-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-03** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-03** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB770ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-03** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-03** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (HB770)
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 217 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0217)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1052e447-4c51-465a-a577-9d44075f1091`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).