republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-281.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 HB 345."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 281"
citation: "Virginia SB 281 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["R. Creigh Deeds"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 38
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-03"
last_action: "2020-04-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cbd65af3-71de-4d94-bfd1-c53814d11cec"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB281"
source_hash: "1598d18aa0653472389d2e9c80982b0261c58983354c529ba21f3a37bd74ebbf"
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 281 (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 HB 345.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1252)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP1252)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB281ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB281ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate as amended SB281E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB281E)
4. **Impact statement from DHCD (SB281)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB281)
5. **Reenrolled bill text (SB281ER2)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB281ER2)

## Votes

- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N) — **39–1** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: (90-Y 0-N) — **89–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Local Government with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- R. Creigh Deeds — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100709D `introduction`
- **2020-01-03** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-18** Impact statement from DHCD (SB281)
- **2020-01-22** Assigned Local Gov sub: Charters `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Local Government with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-29** Reading of amendment waived
- **2020-01-29** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-01-29** Emergency clause added
- **2020-01-29** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB281E
- **2020-01-29** Printed as engrossed 20100709D-E
- **2020-01-30** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-03** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned CC & T sub: Charters `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-04** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-07** Enrolled
- **2020-03-07** Signed by President
- **2020-03-08** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-11** Governor's recommendation received by Senate
- **2020-04-22** Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (39-Y 1-N)
- **2020-04-22** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (90-Y 0-N)
- **2020-04-22** VOTE: (90-Y 0-N)
- **2020-04-22** Governor's recommendation adopted
- **2020-04-22** Reenrolled
- **2020-04-22** Reenrolled bill text (SB281ER2)
- **2020-04-22** Signed by President as reenrolled
- **2020-04-22** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
- **2020-04-22** Enacted, Chapter 1252 (effective 4/22/20) `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cbd65af3-71de-4d94-bfd1-c53814d11cec`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).