---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courthouse; relocation or expansion."
description: "Relocation or expansion of courthouse. Providesthat relocation or expansion of a courthouse to property within 1,000feet of the parcel upon which the courthouse is located shall nottrigger a referendum requirement. The existing statute exempts onlyrelocation or expansion to contiguous land."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 938"
citation: "Virginia HB 938 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Michael J. Webert"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0ec22208-4f0b-45f6-959c-09689b0a742b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB938"
source_hash: "89e81f161577d0090e8fde33f2c49847bebf27c4dafe04113ee0c53bd3fe19eb"
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 938 (2020) — Courthouse; relocation or expansion.

Relocation or expansion of courthouse. Providesthat relocation or expansion of a courthouse to property within 1,000feet of the parcel upon which the courthouse is located shall nottrigger a referendum requirement. The existing statute exempts onlyrelocation or expansion to contiguous land.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0139)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0139)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB938ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB938)
3. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB938ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB938ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Referred from General Laws — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Michael J. Webert — primary (person)
- Jill Holtzman Vogel — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101811D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Referred from General Laws
- **2020-01-16** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-21** Assigned CC & T sub: Land Use `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Local Government (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** Enrolled
- **2020-02-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB938ER)
- **2020-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-24** Signed by President
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 26, 2020
- **2020-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 4, 2020
- **2020-03-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 139 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0ec22208-4f0b-45f6-959c-09689b0a742b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).