CHAPTER 214

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 62.1-44.118 and 62.1-44.119:2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to impaired waters clean-up plan report; consolidation of the agricultural commitments in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan annual report.

[H 747]

Approved April 6, 2026

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 62.1-44.118 and 62.1-44.119:2 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 62.1-44.118. Status reports on progress; legislative oversight.

The Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources shall submit the impaired waters clean-up plan as described in § 62.1-44.117 no later than January 1, 2007, to the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations. Thereafter, a progress report on the implementation of the plan shall be submitted annually to these committees of oversight. The report shall be due on November 1 of each year. Water quality reporting requirements in subsection D of § 10.1-2127, subsection C of § 10.1-2128.1, and § §§ 10.1-2134 and 62.1-44.119:2 shall be annually consolidated in the November 1 report. If there are questions as to the status of the clean-up effort, the chairman of any of these committees may convene his committee for the purpose of receiving testimony. The executive branch departments and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources may request a meeting of any of the committees to inform them as to the progress of the clean-up or to propose specific initiatives that may require legislative action.

§ 62.1-44.119:2. Agricultural commitments; work group.

The Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry shall convene a stakeholder advisory group, hereinafter referred to as the Group, to review annual progress and make recommendations toward the implementation of the Commonwealth's agricultural commitments in the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan. The Group shall develop (i) a process to assist any operator of 50 or more acres of Chesapeake Bay cropland in developing a nutrient management plan that meets the requirements of the goals to be achieved by the target date and (ii) a plan for the stream exclusion program in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Such plans and progress reports shall include the number of practices completed by river basin in the prior program year and practices needed to complete the agriculture sector nutrient load reductions, including sediment reductions by river basin, identification of priority regions, the number of operators affected within each region, initiatives to enhance progress, an accounting of funding received toward the agricultural commitments, shortfalls remaining, and the consequences of such funding shortfalls. Such progress reports shall also include specific percentages relating to nutrient management plan and stream exclusion adoption compared to the requirements of the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan. Such plans and progress reports shall be included as part of the reporting requirements in § 62.1-44.118.