---
type: "Bill"
title: "Martinsville, City of; approval of voters before city can revert to town status, sunset provision."
description: "City of Martinsville; city reversion; sunset. Requires approval from the City of Martinsville voters before the city can revert to town status. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2026."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 85"
citation: "Virginia SB 85 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["William M. Stanley, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-05"
last_action: "2022-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0c4b2f56-e1fd-4fdf-9e4a-9dd7dcf71337"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB85"
source_hash: "2cdbcb5c96d32a563c78ffe81dbb4cbb5a94f3fb3d9b188e47542d0ebd508b56"
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 85 (2022) — Martinsville, City of; approval of voters before city can revert to town status, sunset provision.

City of Martinsville; city reversion; sunset. Requires approval from the City of Martinsville voters before the city can revert to town status. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2026.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0219** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0219)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101334D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB85)
3. **Printed as engrossed 22101334D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB85E)
4. **SB85ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB85ER)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 1-N) — **8–1** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (16-Y 6-N) — **16–6** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 8-N) — **32–8** (pass) · upper
- Rereferred from Privileges and Elections (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (88-Y 9-N) — **87–9** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government with amendment (9-Y 5-N) — **9–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- William M. Stanley, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101334D `introduction`
- **2022-01-05** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-25** Rereferred from Privileges and Elections (13-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-25** Rereferred to Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-07** Reported from Local Government with amendment (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-09** Reading of amendment waived
- **2022-02-09** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-02-09** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB85E
- **2022-02-09** Printed as engrossed 22101334D-E
- **2022-02-10** Read third time and passed Senate (32-Y 8-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-22** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-22** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 1-N)
- **2022-02-25** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (16-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-02** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-03** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-03** Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns amendment rejected
- **2022-03-03** Passed House (88-Y 9-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-03** VOTE: Passage (88-Y 9-N)
- **2022-03-08** Enrolled
- **2022-03-08** Signed by President
- **2022-03-08** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 219 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0c4b2f56-e1fd-4fdf-9e4a-9dd7dcf71337`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).