---
type: "Bill"
title: "Localities; authorized to create business improvement and recruitment districts."
description: "Localities; authorized to create business improvement and recruitment districts."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 956"
citation: "Virginia SB 956 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ruff"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 39
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2023-01-06"
last_action: "2023-04-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c1ec234f-8b4b-4c35-85cc-83e01ba7011e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB956"
source_hash: "9fe98e3461e655239da79dccdace70f73fcc52b1677c98fd97be03ebeb59393b"
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 956 (2023) — Localities; authorized to create business improvement and recruitment districts.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0745** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP0745)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102223D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB956)
3. **SB956ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB956ER)
4. **SB956ER2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+SB956ER2)

## Votes

- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (20-Y 2-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Reported from Local Government (12-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (9-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- House amendment agreed to by Senate (38-Y 2-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (83-Y 11-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (85-Y 13-N) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (38-Y 2-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ruff — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23102223D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-06** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-16** Reported from Local Government (12-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2023-01-18** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-01-19** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2023-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2023-02-08** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-08** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-09** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-02-09** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (9-Y 0-N)
- **2023-02-10** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2023-02-10** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (20-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2023-02-15** Passed by for the day
- **2023-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2023-02-16** Committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2023-02-16** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2023-02-16** Passed House with amendment (85-Y 13-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-16** VOTE: Passage (85-Y 13-N) `passage`
- **2023-02-20** House amendment agreed to by Senate (38-Y 2-N) `amendment-passage`
- **2023-02-23** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-02-23** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB956ER) `passage`
- **2023-02-23** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-02-25** Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 2, 2023 `enrolled`
- **2023-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 27, 2023 `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-26** Governor's recommendation received by Senate `executive-veto-line-item`
- **2023-04-12** Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (38-Y 2-N)
- **2023-04-12** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (83-Y 11-N)
- **2023-04-12** VOTE: Adoption (83-Y 11-N)
- **2023-04-12** Governor's recommendation adopted `executive-signature`
- **2023-04-12** Reenrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-04-12** Reenrolled bill text (SB956ER2) `enrolled`
- **2023-04-12** Signed by President as reenrolled `enrolled, passage`
- **2023-04-12** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled `enrolled, passage`
- **2023-04-12** Enacted, Chapter 745 (effective 7/1/23) `became-law`
- **2023-04-12** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0745)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c1ec234f-8b4b-4c35-85cc-83e01ba7011e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).