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HB1232 • 2026

Black Land Loss, Commission on; established, report.

<p class=ldtitle>A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Title 30 a chapter numbered 70, consisting of sections numbered 30-454 through 30-461, relating to Commission on Black Land Loss; study; report.</p>

Taxes
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Delaney
Last action
2026-02-06
Official status
Continued
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The candidate explanation included details about annual reports that were not explicitly stated in the official source material, but these are implied by the bill's structure. The bill does not specify how findings will be used or if compensation will be provided.

Commission on Black Land Loss; Study and Report

This bill establishes a commission within Virginia's legislative branch to study laws that have taken land from Black people, including discriminatory tax practices.

What This Bill Does

  • Creates the Commission on Black Land Loss in the state government.
  • The commission will examine existing and historical laws used by the state and localities to take land from Black individuals.
  • It includes a study of how these laws affected descendants of enslaved people, considering both past and current values of lost land.
  • Sets up rules for who can be on the commission, including 10 legislative members and seven non-legislative citizen members.
  • The commission will make recommendations to reform laws that cause Black land loss.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Black people who have lost or are at risk of losing their land due to discriminatory practices.
  • State and local governments responsible for enacting laws that affect property rights.
  • Members of the Virginia General Assembly serving on the Commission.

Terms To Know

Commission
A group set up by law to study a specific issue or problem.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify how the findings of the Commission will be used to address past injustices.
  • It remains unclear if and how compensation for land loss will be provided based on the Commission's recommendations.
  • The commission will expire in July 2029 unless renewed.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-06 Rules

    Continued to 2027 in Rules (Voice Vote)

  2. 2026-02-02 Studies Subcommittee

    Subcommittee recommends continuing to 2027 (Voice Vote)

  3. 2026-01-30 Studies Subcommittee

    Assigned HRUL sub: Studies Subcommittee

  4. 2026-01-22 House

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1232)

  5. 2026-01-14 House

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104800D

  6. 2026-01-14 Rules

    Referred to Committee on Rules

Official Summary Text

Commission on Black Land Loss established; study; report.
Establishes the Commission on Black Land Loss in the legislative branch of state government for the purpose of studying existing and historical laws utilized by the state and localities to take land from Black people. The Commission consists of 17 members, 10 of whom are legislative members and seven of whom are nonlegislative citizen members.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Title 30 a chapter numbered 70, consisting of sections numbered
30-454
through
30-461
, relating to Commission on Black Land Loss; study; report.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Title 30 a chapter numbered 70, consisting of sections numbered
30-454
through
30-461
, as follows:

CHAPTER
70
.

COMMISSION ON
BLACK LAND LOSS
.

§ 30-
454
.

Commission on
Black Land Loss
; purpose.

The Commission on
Black Land Loss
(the Commission) is established in the legislative branch of state government. The purpose of the Commission is to
study
existing and historical laws utilized by the state and localities to take land from Black people
, including discriminatory tax laws that unfairly or disproportionately prevent
Black people from home and land ownership
and
laws t
hat allow localities to assess tax arrears against deceased Black
home
owners or
land
owners in efforts to seize the land and sell the land
,
with special consideration
given
to land that was taken that belonged
to descendants of enslaved persons, the value of that land at the time it was taken, and the value of the land today
.

§ 30-
455
.

Membership; terms; vacancies; chair and vice
-
chair.

The Commission shall consist of
17
members
that include
10

legislative members
and

seven
nonlegislative citizen members. Members shall be appointed as follows:

1. S
ix
members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates in accordance with the principles of proportional representation contained in the Rules of the House of Delegates;

2.
F
our
members of the Senate to be appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules
;

3.

F
our
nonlegislative citizen members
to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates
,

of whom one shall be recommended by the Virginia Poverty Law Center
and
one shall be recommended by the
Capitol Region Land Conservancy
;
and

4.

T
hree
nonlegislative citizen members
to be appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules
, of whom one shall be recommended by the Piedmont Environmental Council and one shall be recommended by the Black
Land Loss Narrative Archive Project
.

Nonlegislative citizen members of the
Commission

shall be citizens of the Commonwealth. Unless otherwise approved in writing by the chair of the Commission and the respective Clerk, nonlegislative citizen members shall only be reimbursed for travel originating and ending within the Commonwealth for the purpose of attending meetings.

Legislative members of the Commission shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office. Nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed for a term of two years. Appointments to fill vacancies, other than by expiration of a term, shall be for the unexpired terms. Legislative
members
and nonlegislative citizen members may be reappointed.

However, no nonlegislative citizen member shall serve more than four consecutive two-year terms. The remainder of any term to which a member is appointed to fill a vacancy shall not constitute a term in determining the member's eligibility for reappointment. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.

The Commission shall elect a chair and vice
-
chair from among its membership, who shall be members of the General Assembly.

§ 30-
45
6
.

Quo
r
um; meetings; voting on recommendations.

A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum. The meetings of the Commission shall be held at the call of the chair or whenever the majority of the members so request.

No recommendation of the Commission shall be adopted if a majority of the House members or a majority of the Senate members appointed to the Commission (i) vote against the recommendation and (ii) vote for the recommendation to fail notwithstanding the majority vote of the Commission.

§ 30-
45
7
.

Compensation; expenses.

Legislative members of the Commission shall receive such compensation as provided in §

30-19.12
, and nonlegislative citizen members shall receive such compensation for the performance of their duties as provided in §
2.2-2813
. All members shall be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as provided in §§
2.2-2813
and
2.2-2825
.
Compensation to members of the General Assembly for attendance at official meetings of the Commission shall be paid by the offices of the Clerk of the House of Delegates or Clerk of the Senate, as applicable. All other
compensation and expenses shall be paid from existing appropriations to the Commission or, if unfunded, shall be approved by the Joint Rules Committee.

§ 30-
45
8
.

Powers and duties of the Commission.

The Commission shall have the following powers and duties:

1.
Study and determine what federal, state, and local laws have been created
and used to systemically confiscate Black-owned land
,
including partition sales, eminent domain, and discriminatory lending practices;

2.
Identify
the degree of Black land loss in Virginia measured in loss of generational wealth;

3.
Identify
how
practices in assessing tax liens or property fees against deceased landowners in efforts to seize land
and
the use of intimidation, threats, and corrupt or racist practices used by law enforcement, elected officials, courts, treasurers, developers, and speculators
were used
to seize Black-owned land;

4. M
ake recommendations to reform state and local laws to prevent Black land loss;
and

5. Determine
whether and what form of compensation or relief would be appropriate for any individual harmed by the above or any of his lineal descendants.

§ 30-
45
9
.

Staffing.

Administrative staff support shall be provided by the Office of the Clerk of the House of Delegates or the Office of the Clerk of the Senate as may be appropriate for the house in which the chair of the Commission serves. The Division of Legislative Services shall provide legal, research, policy analysis, and other services as requested by the Commission.

§ 30-
4
60
.

Chairman's executive summary of activity and work of the Commission.

The chair shall submit to the General Assembly and the Governor an annual executive summary of the interim activity and work of the Commission no later than the first day of each regular session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.

§ 30-
46
1
.

Sunset.

This chapter shall expire on
July 1, 2029
.

2. That, for its first year of existence, if the Commission is not funded by a separate appropriation in the appropriation act, the Commission may be funded from the operating budgets of the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate upon the approval of the Joint Rules Committee. If the Commission is not funded by a separate appropriation in the appropriation act for any year thereafter, this chapter shall expire on July 1 of the fiscal year in which the Commission fails to receive such funding.