---
type: "Bill"
title: "Charter; City of Norfolk."
description: "An Act to amend and reenact § 62 and §§ 63, 64, and 114, as severally amended, of Chapter 34 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, which provided a charter for the City of Norfolk, relating to division of fire; classified service."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 1696"
citation: "Virginia HB 1696 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alex Q. Askew"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-01-04"
last_action: "2025-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d181e0cd-329a-4bef-af6e-25ce246e961d"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1696"
source_hash: "967d353eb8b8662bc62924f3586877a8c56d9f6a662e65c51c482162f5fd722f"
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 1696 (2025) — Charter; City of Norfolk.

An Act to amend and reenact § 62 and §§ 63, 64, and 114, as severally amended, of Chapter 34 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, which provided a charter for the City of Norfolk, relating to division of fire; classified service.

## 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/1012681.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1073457.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1050005.PDF)

## Votes

- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alex Q. Askew — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25103785D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-04** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-13** Assigned CCT sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-15** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2025-01-17** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-01-22** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-01-23** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2025-01-24** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-10** Reported from Local Government (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-11** Rules suspended
- **2025-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-11** Passed by for the day
- **2025-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-12** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-17** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-02-17** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1696ER) `passage`
- **2025-02-17** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-20** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 373 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-24** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0373)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d181e0cd-329a-4bef-af6e-25ce246e961d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).