republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-345.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Scottsville, Town of; amending charter, staggered elections for town council and other officers."
description: "Charter; Town of Scottsville; town council and other town officers. Provides staggered elections for the town council and removes authority of the town council to appoint other police officers besides the town sergeant. The bill authorizes the town council to appoint a town administrator, and authorizes the town council to appoint one person to multiple offices. The bill changes the term \"president of the council\" to \"vice-mayor\" and includes female pronouns with all instances of male pronouns. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to SB 281."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 345"
citation: "Virginia HB 345 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert B. Bell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-01"
last_action: "2020-03-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/139bffea-79ec-47f0-b78b-81d02e7c36ef"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB345"
source_hash: "057b91642e02790f9bedc1b586a5d84ae70d113a9a261e05bab2920ef3aee543"
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 345 (2020) — Scottsville, Town of; amending charter, staggered elections for town council and other officers.

Charter; Town of Scottsville; town council and other town officers. Provides staggered elections for the town council and removes authority of the town council to appoint other police officers besides the town sergeant. The bill authorizes the town council to appoint a town administrator, and authorizes the town council to appoint one person to multiple offices. The bill changes the term "president of the council" to "vice-mayor" and includes female pronouns with all instances of male pronouns. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to SB 281.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0125)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0125)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB345ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB345ER)
3. **Engrossed by House as amended HB345E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB345E)
4. **Impact statement from DHCD (HB345)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB345)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Robert B. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-01** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102298D `introduction`
- **2020-01-01** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-17** Assigned CC & T sub: Charters `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-18** Impact statement from DHCD (HB345)
- **2020-01-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment (6-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-02-05** Emergency clause added
- **2020-02-05** Engrossed by House as amended HB345E
- **2020-02-05** Printed as engrossed 20102298D-E
- **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 (13-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** 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 125 (effective 3/4/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/139bffea-79ec-47f0-b78b-81d02e7c36ef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).