{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/2.2-2699.8.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/2.2-2699.8.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/2.2-2699.8.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/2.2-2699.8.html"}],"law_id":67697,"edition_id":1,"section_id":67697,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.8","catch_line":"Definitions","history":"2020, cc. 113, 1274.","full_text":"For purposes of this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t&#8220;Council&#8221; means the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice established pursuant to this article.\n\t\t&#8220;Environmental justice&#8221; means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, faith, disability, national origin, or income, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of any environmental law, regulation, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;Fair treatment&#8221; means the equitable consideration of all people whereby no group of people bears a disproportionate share of any negative environmental consequence resulting from an industrial, governmental, or commercial operation, program, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;Meaningful involvement&#8221; means the requirements that (i) affected and vulnerable community residents have access and opportunities to participate in the full cycle of the decision-making process about a proposed activity that will affect their environment or health and (ii) decision-makers will seek out and consider such participation, allowing the views and perspectives of community residents to shape and influence the decision.\n\t\t&#8220;Resilience&#8221; means, as it pertains to climate change, the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and to withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions through adaptable planning and climate solutions.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":245235,"text":"For purposes of this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t&#8220;Council&#8221; means the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice established pursuant to this article.\n\t\t&#8220;Environmental justice&#8221; means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, faith, disability, national origin, or income, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of any environmental law, regulation, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;Fair treatment&#8221; means the equitable consideration of all people whereby no group of people bears a disproportionate share of any negative environmental consequence resulting from an industrial, governmental, or commercial operation, program, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;Meaningful involvement&#8221; means the requirements that (i) affected and vulnerable community residents have access and opportunities to participate in the full cycle of the decision-making process about a proposed activity that will affect their environment or health and (ii) decision-makers will seek out and consider such participation, allowing the views and perspectives of community residents to shape and influence the decision.\n\t\t&#8220;Resilience&#8221; means, as it pertains to climate change, the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and to withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions through adaptable planning and climate solutions.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":14207,"edition_id":1,"name":"Virginia Council on Environmental Justice","identifier":"36","label":"article","depth":5,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12930,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:47:16","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:47:16","permalink":{"id":175413,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":14207,"identifier":"36","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36","url":"\/2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12930,"edition_id":1,"name":"Councils","identifier":"26","label":"chapter","depth":4,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12785,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:02","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:02","permalink":{"id":175183,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12930,"identifier":"26","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26","url":"\/2.2\/I\/D\/26\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12785,"edition_id":1,"name":"State Authorities, Boards, Commissions, Councils, Foundations and Other Collegial Bodies","identifier":"D","label":"part","depth":3,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12784,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:53","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:53","permalink":{"id":173913,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12785,"identifier":"D","token":"2.2\/I\/D","url":"\/2.2\/I\/D\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12784,"edition_id":1,"name":"Organization of State Government","identifier":"I","label":"subtitle","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12749,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:53","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:53","permalink":{"id":171455,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12784,"identifier":"I","token":"2.2\/I","url":"\/2.2\/I\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12749,"edition_id":1,"name":"Administration of Government","identifier":"2.2","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:51","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:51","permalink":{"id":171453,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12749,"identifier":"2.2","token":"2.2","url":"\/2.2\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":67329,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.10","catch_line":"Membership; terms; quorum; meetings","url":"\/2.2-2699.10\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.10","metadata":false},{"id":55397,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.11","catch_line":"Compensation; expenses; staffing","url":"\/2.2-2699.11\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.11","metadata":false},{"id":67963,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.12","catch_line":"Powers and duties of the Council","url":"\/2.2-2699.12\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.12","metadata":false},{"id":67697,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.8","catch_line":"Definitions","url":"\/2.2-2699.8\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.8","metadata":false},{"id":55625,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.9","catch_line":"Virginia Council on Environmental Justice","url":"\/2.2-2699.9\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.9","metadata":false}],"previous_section":{"id":67963,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.12","catch_line":"Powers and duties of the Council","url":"\/2.2-2699.12\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.12","metadata":false},"next_section":{"id":55625,"structure_id":14207,"section_number":"2.2-2699.9","catch_line":"Virginia Council on Environmental Justice","url":"\/2.2-2699.9\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.9","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/2.2-2699.8\/","history_text":"<p>This law was first created in 2020. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapters <a href=\"https:\/\/legacylis.virginia.gov\/cgi-bin\/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0113\">113<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/legacylis.virginia.gov\/cgi-bin\/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP1274\">1274<\/a> of that year\u2019s edition of \u201cActs of Assembly,\u201d the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year.<\/p>","references":[{"id":67064,"section_number":"2.2-2699.13","catch_line":"Expired","order_by":null,"url":"\/2.2-2699.13\/"}],"refers_to":false,"permalink":{"id":175427,"object_type":"law","relational_id":67697,"identifier":"2.2-2699.8","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.8","url":"\/2.2-2699.8\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/2.2-2699.8\/","token":"2.2\/I\/D\/26\/36\/2.2-2699.8","dublin_core":{"Title":"Definitions","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 2.2-2699.8","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section><p>For purposes of this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t&#8220;<span class=\"dictionary\">Council<\/span>&#8221; means the Virginia <span class=\"dictionary\">Council<\/span> on <span class=\"dictionary\">Environmental Justice<\/span> established pursuant to this article.\n\t\t&#8220;<span class=\"dictionary\">Environmental justice<\/span>&#8221; means the <span class=\"dictionary\">fair treatment<\/span> and <span class=\"dictionary\">meaningful involvement<\/span> of all people regardless of race, color, faith, disability, national origin, or income, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of any environmental <span class=\"dictionary\">law<\/span>, regulation, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;<span class=\"dictionary\">Fair treatment<\/span>&#8221; means the <span class=\"dictionary\">equitable<\/span> consideration of all people whereby no group of people bears a disproportionate share of any negative environmental consequence resulting from an industrial, governmental, or commercial operation, program, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;<span class=\"dictionary\">Meaningful involvement<\/span>&#8221; means the requirements that (i) affected and vulnerable community residents have access and opportunities to participate in the full cycle of the decision-making process about a proposed activity that will affect their environment or health and (ii) decision-makers will seek out and consider such participation, allowing the views and perspectives of community residents to shape and influence the decision.\n\t\t&#8220;Resilience&#8221; means, as it pertains to climate change, the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and to withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions through adaptable planning and climate solutions.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":"                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nDEFINITIONS (\u00a7 2.2-2699.8)\n\nFor purposes of this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t&#8220;Council&#8221; means the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice\nestablished pursuant to this article.\n\t\t&#8220;Environmental justice&#8221; means the fair treatment and meaningful\ninvolvement of all people regardless of race, color, faith, disability, national\norigin, or income, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of\nany environmental law, regulation, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;Fair treatment&#8221; means the equitable consideration of all people\nwhereby no group of people bears a disproportionate share of any negative\nenvironmental consequence resulting from an industrial, governmental, or\ncommercial operation, program, or policy.\n\t\t&#8220;Meaningful involvement&#8221; means the requirements that (i) affected\nand vulnerable community residents have access and opportunities to participate\nin the full cycle of the decision-making process about a proposed activity that\nwill affect their environment or health and (ii) decision-makers will seek out\nand consider such participation, allowing the views and perspectives of\ncommunity residents to shape and influence the decision.\n\t\t&#8220;Resilience&#8221; means, as it pertains to climate change, the ability\nto anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and to withstand,\nrespond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions through adaptable planning and\nclimate solutions.\n\nHISTORY: 2020, cc. 113, 1274.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}