---
type: "Bill"
title: "Municipal elections; shifting elections to November."
description: "Shifting municipal elections to November.Shifts all municipal elections for city and town council and schoolboard from May to November, beginning with elections held after January1, 2022."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1157"
citation: "Virginia SB 1157 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lionell Spruill, Sr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-01-07"
last_action: "2021-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0ac7df9f-40f7-4972-8bfc-acf81be0b04a"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1157"
source_hash: "06d10eabee2856bf6b6fcae2478ed185d5bea7da6d802989159930a19192285a"
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 1157 (2021) — Municipal elections; shifting elections to November.

Shifting municipal elections to November.Shifts all municipal elections for city and town council and schoolboard from May to November, beginning with elections held after January1, 2022.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0103** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0103)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100131D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1157)
3. **SB1157ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1157ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Privileges and Elections (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Privileges and Elections — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (50-Y 44-N 1-A) — **49–44** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government (12-Y 3-N) — **12–3** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (19-Y 19-N) — **19–19** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lionell Spruill, Sr. — primary (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Clinton L. Jenkins — cosponsor (person)
- Don L. Scott — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
- Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100131D `introduction`
- **2021-01-07** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (SB1157)
- **2021-01-18** Reported from Local Government (12-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-20** Amendment by Senator Petersen withdrawn `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2021-01-20** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-01-20** Impact statement from DHCD/CLG (SB1157)
- **2021-01-21** Read third time and passed Senate (19-Y 19-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-21** Chair votes Yea
- **2021-02-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-02** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Privileges and Elections
- **2021-02-10** Reported from Privileges and Elections (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-15** Passed House (50-Y 44-N 1-A) `passage`
- **2021-02-15** VOTE: Passage (50-Y 44-N 1-A)
- **2021-02-17** Enrolled
- **2021-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (SB1157ER)
- **2021-02-17** Signed by President
- **2021-02-18** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-22** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 22, 2021
- **2021-02-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 103 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0ac7df9f-40f7-4972-8bfc-acf81be0b04a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).