2026 SESSION

SENATE SUBSTITUTE

26106791D

SENATE BILL NO. 784

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources

on February 3, 2026)

(Patron Prior to Substitute—Senator Stuart)

A BILL to amend and reenact § 45.2-1647 of the Code of Virginia, relating to groundwater management areas; bioslurry injections in wells prohibited.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 45.2-1647 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 45.2-1647. Hydraulic fracturing; bioslurry injections; groundwater management area.

A. For the purposes of this section, "bioslurry injection" means the underground injection of agricultural waste, food waste, manure, paper sludge, or sewage sludge.

B. No person shall conduct any hydraulic fracturing or bioslurry injection in any well that has been drilled through any portion of a groundwater management area declared by regulation prior to January 1, 2020, pursuant to the provisions of the Ground Water Management Act of 1992 (§ 62.1-254 et seq.). For purposes of this section, "hydraulic fracturing" means the treatment of a well by the application of hydraulic fracturing fluid, including a base fluid and any additive, under pressure for the express purpose of initiating or propagating fractures in a target geologic formation to enhance production of natural gas or oil.