republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-900.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Beach, City of; amending charter, council members."
description: "Charter; City of Virginia Beach. Provides that a Virginia Beach city council member from one of the residence districts who decides to run for an at-large seat on the council shall tender his resignation as a council member not less than 10 days prior to the date for the filing of petitions. Similarly, a city council member from one of the at-large seats who decides to run for a residence district seat on the council shall tender his resignation as a council member not less than 10 days prior to the filing date. The unexpired portion of the term of any such council member who has resigned shall be filled at the same general election, or by special election if the seat is to be filled by special election. This bill is identical to HB 464."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 900"
citation: "Virginia SB 900 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill DeSteph"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-08"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/68cd65ed-eaf3-45a7-89da-ba255a8d4c50"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB900"
source_hash: "ccfe349100312ec4b5153ef17178889c4dcfb53235566687373178259a36e9c6"
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 900 (2020) — Virginia Beach, City of; amending charter, council members.

Charter; City of Virginia Beach. Provides that a Virginia Beach city council member from one of the residence districts who decides to run for an at-large seat on the council shall tender his resignation as a council member not less than 10 days prior to the date for the filing of petitions. Similarly, a city council member from one of the at-large seats who decides to run for a residence district seat on the council shall tender his resignation as a council member not less than 10 days prior to the filing date. The unexpired portion of the term of any such council member who has resigned shall be filled at the same general election, or by special election if the seat is to be filled by special election. This bill is identical to HB 464.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0762)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0762)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB900ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB900ER)
3. **Impact statement from DHCD (SB900)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB900)

## Votes

- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (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 (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill DeSteph — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103545D `introduction`
- **2020-01-08** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-18** Impact statement from DHCD (SB900)
- **2020-01-22** Assigned Local Gov sub: Charters `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Local Government (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-29** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **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
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 762 (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/68cd65ed-eaf3-45a7-89da-ba255a8d4c50`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).