republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/sb-279.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vicious dogs; law-enforcement officer, etc., to apply to a magistrate for a summons, etc."
description: "Vicious dogs. Authorizes a law-enforcement officer or animal control officer to apply to a magistrate for a summons for a vicious dog if such officer is located in either the jurisdiction where the vicious dog resides or in the jurisdiction where the vicious dog committed one of the acts set forth in the definition of a vicious dog. Current law requires such action only if the law-enforcement officer or animal control officer is located in the jurisdiction where the vicious dog resides. The bill also requires any evidentiary hearing or appeal to be held not less than 30 days from the date of the summons or appeal, unless good cause is found by the court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 279"
citation: "Virginia SB 279 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill DeSteph"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 32
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4982d08a-0498-4c7b-b5ef-c2e2112ac051"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB279"
source_hash: "547ddb8f842ee66b5b6ce38e1153d26f9ab155d20418621b8e12e6b681952d5f"
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 279 (2022) — Vicious dogs; law-enforcement officer, etc., to apply to a magistrate for a summons, etc.

Vicious dogs. Authorizes a law-enforcement officer or animal control officer to apply to a magistrate for a summons for a vicious dog if such officer is located in either the jurisdiction where the vicious dog resides or in the jurisdiction where the vicious dog committed one of the acts set forth in the definition of a vicious dog. Current law requires such action only if the law-enforcement officer or animal control officer is located in the jurisdiction where the vicious dog resides. The bill also requires any evidentiary hearing or appeal to be held not less than 30 days from the date of the summons or appeal, unless good cause is found by the court.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0614** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0614)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101323D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB279)
3. **Printed as engrossed 22101323D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB279E)
4. **SB279ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB279ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (18-Y 4-N) — **18–4** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate SB279E — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 2-N) — **8–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with amendment (10-Y 0-N) — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill DeSteph — primary (person)
- John A. Cosgrove, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101323D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-24** Assigned ACNR sub: Companion Animals `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Impact statement from DPB (SB279)
- **2022-02-08** Senate subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-08** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with amendment (10-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-09** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-10** Reading of amendment waived
- **2022-02-10** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-02-10** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB279E
- **2022-02-10** Printed as engrossed 22101323D-E
- **2022-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-10** Passed Senate SB279E `passage`
- **2022-02-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB279E)
- **2022-02-22** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-22** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** Assigned ACNR sub: Agriculture `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 2-N)
- **2022-03-02** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (18-Y 4-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-07** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-07** Passed House (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-07** VOTE: Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-10** Enrolled
- **2022-03-10** Signed by President
- **2022-03-10** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB279ER)
- **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 614 (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/4982d08a-0498-4c7b-b5ef-c2e2112ac051`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).