---
type: "Bill"
title: "Municipal elections; local option for timing of elections, effective date."
description: "Municipal elections; local option for timing of elections, effective date."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1304"
citation: "Virginia SB 1304 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jill Holtzman Vogel"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 17
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-02-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/de986f81-3035-48c2-8773-82542d8dd31c"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1304"
source_hash: "c3f94973d69b4e413c5207b72cd6af56122851ee19771338a6ca071b2a980e4a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 1304 (2017) — Municipal elections; local option for timing of elections, effective date.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0165)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0165)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1304ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1304ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103078D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1304)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections — **17–3** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Jill Holtzman Vogel — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103078D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-20** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-31** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-31** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Assigned P & E sub: Campaigns `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-14** Passed House (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-16** Enrolled
- **2017-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-17** Signed by President
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
- **2017-02-17** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
- **2017-02-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 165 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/de986f81-3035-48c2-8773-82542d8dd31c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).