---
type: "Bill"
title: "Cemeteries on private property; registration by localities."
description: "Registration by localities of cemeteries on private property. Clarifies that the requirement for the governing body of a locality to publish on its website notice of the public sale of any publicly owned property that contains a known cemetery, graveyard, or other place of burial does not meet the requirement in current law for a newspaper publication of such notice. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 44"
citation: "Virginia SB 44 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Danica A. Roem"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 41
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2025-11-22"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/38f67d70-3af2-439d-a3ae-68836681f328"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB44"
source_hash: "372f040a7f4039dcd866e26b6b83f70886850d186827c82bee69a747709900de"
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 44 (2026) — Cemeteries on private property; registration by localities.

Registration by localities of cemeteries on private property. Clarifies that the requirement for the governing body of a locality to publish on its website notice of the public sale of any publicly owned property that contains a known cemetery, graveyard, or other place of burial does not meet the requirement in current law for a newspaper publication of such notice. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1081653.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1218166.PDF)
3. **Conference Report** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211747.HTML)
4. **Counties, Cities and Towns Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1171459.HTML)
5. **House Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1181361.HTML)
6. **Subcommittee #2 Subcommittee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1169836.HTML)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214201.PDF)

## Votes

- H VOTE: — **73–23** (pass) · lower
- Adopt Conference Committee Report R — **29–10** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **31–9** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) — **19–2** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Accede Conference Committee R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **78–20** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government — **13–1** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Concur House Amendment R — **0–39** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Danica A. Roem — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-11-22** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100758D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-11-22** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-15** Fiscal Impact statement From CLG (1/15/2026 3:16 pm)
- **2026-01-19** Reported from Local Government (13-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-20** Rules suspended
- **2026-01-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-01-20** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-01-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-01-21** Engrossed by Senate (Voice Vote)
- **2026-01-22** Read third time and passed Senate (31-Y 9-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2026-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-03** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-17** Assigned HCCT sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (8-Y 0-N)
- **2026-02-19** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-20** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment(s) (19-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-25** committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-02-25** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2026-02-25** Passed House with amendment (78-Y 20-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Counties, Cities and Towns Amendment rejected by Senate `amendment-failure`
- **2026-03-02** House insisted on amendments
- **2026-03-02** House requested conference committee `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-04** Senate acceded to request Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-04** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2026-03-04** Senate Conferees: Roem, Aird, Hackworth
- **2026-03-10** Conferees appointed by House
- **2026-03-10** House Conferees: Sewell, McGuire, Ware
- **2026-03-14** Conference Report released
- **2026-03-14** Conference report agreed to by House (73-Y 23-N 0-A) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-14** Conference report agreed to by Senate (29-Y 10-N 0-A) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB44ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter479 (Effective 7/1/2027) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0479)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/38f67d70-3af2-439d-a3ae-68836681f328`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).