---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voluntary boundary; agreement between Counties of Caroline and Essex."
description: "Allows the Counties of Caroline and Essex, in adopting a voluntary boundary agreement, to attach to their petitions to the circuit court a Geographic Information System (GIS) map depicting the boundary change. Under current law, such use of a GIS map, rather than a metes and bounds description, is permitted only regarding the boundary agreements of certain named localities. This bill incorporates"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2316"
citation: "Virginia HB 2316 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties", "Cities and Towns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["M. Keith Hodges"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-01-08"
last_action: "2019-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2bfd7c1b-0a94-4967-8ff5-576f76b09978"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2316"
source_hash: "68610b6952a99f6d03debc057b0dff1f52cb8b4024e8f05c8624bd6337129428"
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 HB 2316 (2019) — Voluntary boundary; agreement between Counties of Caroline and Essex.

Allows the Counties of Caroline and Essex, in adopting a voluntary boundary agreement, to attach to their petitions to the circuit court a Geographic Information System (GIS) map depicting the boundary change. Under current law, such use of a GIS map, rather than a metes and bounds description, is permitted only regarding the boundary agreements of certain named localities. This bill incorporates

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0705)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0705)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2316)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2316ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2316ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105003D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2316H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101192D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2316)

## Votes

- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with substitute — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- M. Keith Hodges — primary (person)
- Margaret B. Ransone — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101192D `introduction`
- **2019-01-08** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-14** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-18** Incorporates HB2624 (Ransone)
- **2019-01-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-23** Committee substitute agreed to 19105003D-H1
- **2019-01-23** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2316H1
- **2019-01-24** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (96-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-24** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-01-24** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-01-25** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-25** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Enrolled
- **2019-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-27** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 27, 2019
- **2019-02-27** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 705 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2bfd7c1b-0a94-4967-8ff5-576f76b09978`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).