HB 397 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program.

Summary

Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Air Pollution Control Board to establish and maintain a market-based trading program consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program, as defined in existing law, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generating units in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to SB 802.

Issues: ✓ Energy ✓ Environment

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

Signed into Law

Apr 2026

Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Signed Apr 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Substitute → Natural Resources Subcommittee Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The document has been reformatted from a standard legislative text to a 'House Substitute' version, which typically indicates a revision by a subcommittee. The substantive policy content, including funding percentages, program requirements, and reporting deadlines, remains unchanged. The primary changes are cosmetic, involving the addition of session headers, bill numbers, and line numbers, while the original text was largely removed.

TECHNICAL

The document structure was changed from a plain text format to a formatted 'House Substitute' layout with added headers, bill numbers, and line numbers, while the core legislative text was removed and re-inserted.

The original header text, including the offer date and committee attribution, was removed and replaced with new formatting placeholders.

New headers indicating the '2026 Session' and 'House Substitute' status were added to the top of the document.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 26, 2026 · House of Delegates Feb 3, 2026

How they voted

39–0

Passed

Total votes 39

Feb 26, 2026

D Democratic20

20 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican19

19 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 13, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor-Chapter 920 (effective 7/1/2026)

executive

Mar 5, 2026

Upper · Passed

Signed by President

upper

Mar 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

Signed by Speaker

lower

Mar 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB397ER)

lower

Mar 2, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A)

upper

Feb 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by for the day

upper

Feb 26, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)

upper

Feb 24, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 6-N)

upper

Feb 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources

upper

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time and passed House (63-Y 35-N 0-A)

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (15-Y 7-N)

lower

Jan 21, 2026

Lower · Passed

House subcommittee offered

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Committee

Assigned HACNR sub: Natural Resources

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources

lower

1 primary · 12 co-sponsors