republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-979.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006; applicability to nominations and elections for directors."
description: "Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006; applicability to nominations and elections for directors of soil and water conservation districts. Removes the exemption to the applicability of the provisions of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006 for directors of soil and water conservation districts, so that such candidates will be subject to campaign finance reporting requirements. The bill further provides that such a candidate may qualify for the exemption from reporting requirements if he does not solicit or accept campaign contributions and does not contribute personally to, or spend more than $1,000 on, his campaign."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 979"
citation: "Virginia SB 979 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David R. Suetterlein"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-15"
last_action: "2020-04-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9ca1b528-1c04-406f-9536-aca9a73c4821"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB979"
source_hash: "49039dfbb91011d4b2e55b9217c37fe95a58bff32e2adafb9bdba8e2cc3b6419"
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 979 (2020) — Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006; applicability to nominations and elections for directors.

Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006; applicability to nominations and elections for directors of soil and water conservation districts. Removes the exemption to the applicability of the provisions of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006 for directors of soil and water conservation districts, so that such candidates will be subject to campaign finance reporting requirements. The bill further provides that such a candidate may qualify for the exemption from reporting requirements if he does not solicit or accept campaign contributions and does not contribute personally to, or spend more than $1,000 on, his campaign.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0772)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0772)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB979ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB979ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB979S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB979S1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB979)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB979)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (37-Y 2-N) — **37–2** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (13-Y 2-N) — **13–2** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Privileges and Elections (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David R. Suetterlein — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-15** Presented and ordered printed 20105592D `introduction`
- **2020-01-15** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-20** Impact statement from DPB (SB979)
- **2020-01-21** Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (13-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-21** Committee substitute printed 20106353D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-23** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-24** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-01-24** Committee substitute agreed to 20106353D-S1
- **2020-01-24** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB979S1
- **2020-01-27** Read third time and passed Senate (37-Y 2-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB979S1)
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** Assigned P & E sub: Campaign Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-28** Reported from Privileges and Elections (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
- **2020-03-09** Impact statement from DPB (SB979ER)
- **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
- **2020-04-07** Approved by Governor-Chapter 772 (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/9ca1b528-1c04-406f-9536-aca9a73c4821`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).