---
type: "Bill"
title: "Norfolk, City of; amending charter, appointment of officers, record of ordinances, etc."
description: "Replaces references to election of certain city officers with references to appointment of such officers and deletes a reference to viva voce voting. The bill removes a provision requiring ordinances to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within 10 days after passage and outdated and duplicative provisions related to claims for property destroyed in a fire. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 256"
citation: "Virginia SB 256 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr."]
version_count: 2
action_count: 14
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-01-05"
last_action: "2018-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6a5f11bf-6d85-46b5-ae3e-255cd0152e03"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+SB256"
source_hash: "97ea48ad057a7f31785fb5331f793246baf4392dc9d080f7f02d9412f7fd6106"
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 256 (2018) — Norfolk, City of; amending charter, appointment of officers, record of ordinances, etc.

Replaces references to election of certain city officers with references to appointment of such officers and deletes a reference to viva voce voting. The bill removes a provision requiring ordinances to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within 10 days after passage and outdated and duplicative provisions related to claims for property destroyed in a fire. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB256ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB256ER)
2. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18101743D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB256)

## Votes

- Reported from Local Government — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **100–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr. — primary (person)
- Joseph C. Lindsey — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18101743D `introduction`
- **2018-01-05** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-26** Passed by for the day
- **2018-01-29** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2018-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-05** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-21** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2018-02-22** Enrolled
- **2018-02-26** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 26, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 5, 2018
- **2018-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 75 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6a5f11bf-6d85-46b5-ae3e-255cd0152e03`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).