---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elkton, Town of; amending charter, town boundaries, council meetings."
description: "Charter; Town of Elkton; town boundaries; council meetings. Codifies various annexation agreements between the Town of Elkton and Rockingham County. The bill increases from 30 to 45 days the maximum allowable period between a vacancy in the council and the filling of the vacancy. The bill also authorizes the Chief of Police to deliver via a designee a notice of a special or emergency meeting of the council. This bill is identical to HB 846."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 597"
citation: "Virginia SB 597 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emmett W. Hanger, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d091e012-2d41-498b-b916-7841cf3a4753"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB597"
source_hash: "a6d664d3dc9f61b5c446ed9287b4c4cca4d915b2c54f023839d136eab812a46f"
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 597 (2020) — Elkton, Town of; amending charter, town boundaries, council meetings.

Charter; Town of Elkton; town boundaries; council meetings. Codifies various annexation agreements between the Town of Elkton and Rockingham County. The bill increases from 30 to 45 days the maximum allowable period between a vacancy in the council and the filling of the vacancy. The bill also authorizes the Chief of Police to deliver via a designee a notice of a special or emergency meeting of the council. This bill is identical to HB 846.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0757)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0757)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB597ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB597ER)
3. **Impact statement from DHCD (SB597)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB597)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102408D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-18** Impact statement from DHCD (SB597)
- **2020-01-22** Assigned Local Gov sub: Charters `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Local Government (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-29** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-30** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-03** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned CC & T sub: Charters `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-04** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-07** Enrolled
- **2020-03-07** Signed by President
- **2020-03-08** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 757 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d091e012-2d41-498b-b916-7841cf3a4753`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).