republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-48.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vacant buildings; registration."
description: "Vacant buildings; registration. Permits any county, city, or town to require, by ordinance, the owner of any building that has been vacant for at least 12 months and (i) that meets the definition of \"derelict building\" in relevant law, (ii) that meets the definition of \"criminal blight\" in relevant law, or (iii) in which a locality has determined a person is living without the authority of the owner to register such building annually. Under current law, any city and certain towns are permitted to require the owner of any building that has been vacant for at least 12 months and meets the definition of \"derelict building\" in relevant law to register such building annually. This bill incorporates SB 478, is identical to HB 1486, and is a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 48"
citation: "Virginia SB 48 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mamie E. Locke"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 27
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-12-21"
last_action: "2024-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9502c3f0-3578-494f-b688-cba92dd3cfd9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB48"
source_hash: "bc43e3d006d9a4e1e54dddffe2d226c3b4afd887bdddecb5fd93aec0bc5836a2"
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 48 (2024) — Vacant buildings; registration.

Vacant buildings; registration. Permits any county, city, or town to require, by ordinance, the owner of any building that has been vacant for at least 12 months and (i) that meets the definition of "derelict building" in relevant law, (ii) that meets the definition of "criminal blight" in relevant law, or (iii) in which a locality has determined a person is living without the authority of the owner to register such building annually. Under current law, any city and certain towns are permitted to require the owner of any building that has been vacant for at least 12 months and meets the definition of "derelict building" in relevant law to register such building annually. This bill incorporates SB 478, is identical to HB 1486, and is a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0616** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0616)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24105512D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB48S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100196D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB48)
4. **SB48ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB48ER)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government with substitute (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (65-Y 35-N) — **64–35** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mamie E. Locke — primary (person)
- Angelia Williams Graves — cosponsor (person)
- Lashrecse D. Aird — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-12-21** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100196D `filing, introduction`
- **2023-12-21** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-15** Reported from Local Government with substitute (11-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-15** Committee substitute printed 24105512D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-01-15** Incorporates SB478 (Aird)
- **2024-01-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2024-01-17** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-01-17** Reading of substitute waived
- **2024-01-17** Committee substitute agreed to 24105512D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-01-17** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB48S1 `substitution`
- **2024-01-18** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-13** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-21** Passed House (65-Y 35-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-21** VOTE: Passage (65-Y 35-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-26** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-26** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB48ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-26** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-02-28** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 616 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0616)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9502c3f0-3578-494f-b688-cba92dd3cfd9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).