---
type: "Bill"
title: "Amherst, Town of; amending charter, alters election of members of town council."
description: "Alters the election of members of the town council of the Town of Amherst from two-year terms to four-year staggered terms. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 871"
citation: "Virginia SB 871 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark J. Peake"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 13
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-01-18"
last_action: "2018-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/33b31bb1-a97b-4e0e-98ba-ac70d12fd9c0"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+SB871"
source_hash: "7e589165199a20e6e780e96167c77812928a19d7789837fb794a8a59a5c2ae00"
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 871 (2018) — Amherst, Town of; amending charter, alters election of members of town council.

Alters the election of members of the town council of the Town of Amherst from two-year terms to four-year staggered terms. 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 (SB871ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB871ER)
2. **Senate: Presented and ordered printed 18104117D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB871)

## Votes

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

## Sponsors

- Mark J. Peake — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-18** Presented and ordered printed 18104117D `introduction`
- **2018-01-18** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-02** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2018-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-08** 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 91 (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/33b31bb1-a97b-4e0e-98ba-ac70d12fd9c0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).