republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-168.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Election of certain governing bodies; conversion to single-member districts.	Election of certain governing bodies; conversion to single-member districts. Requires every locality with a population of 400,000 or greater to elect the members of its governing body by individual single-member districts. The bill provides that a governing body's presiding officer may be elected at large. The bill further provides that any such governing body that does not already meet the requirements of the bill shall establish the required districts and shall reapportion the representation in the governing body in accordance with general law. Finally, the bill provides that for any such governing body that, prior to 2026, adopted an ordinance with a map to elect its members by individual single-member districts, such ordinance shall become effective upon the effective date of this act. This bill is identical to SB 51 and contains an emergency clause.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2026	HB 168	Virginia HB 168 (2026)	bill		enacted	Alex Q. Askew	8	45	9	2026-01-06	2026-03-10	openstates	ocd-bill/d09101af-6701-4702-abe6-a504ec644b77	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB168	e4922ce4b92d2d41a690c107f4bdbd565891f553a38accab10dba7508c6a0e3c	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 168 (2026) — Election of certain governing bodies; conversion to single-member districts.

Election of certain governing bodies; conversion to single-member districts. Requires every locality with a population of 400,000 or greater to elect the members of its governing body by individual single-member districts. The bill provides that a governing body's presiding officer may be elected at large. The bill further provides that any such governing body that does not already meet the requirements of the bill shall establish the required districts and shall reapportion the representation in the governing body in accordance with general law. Finally, the bill provides that for any such governing body that, prior to 2026, adopted an ordinance with a map to elect its members by individual single-member districts, such ordinance shall become effective upon the effective date of this act. This bill is identical to SB 51 and contains an emergency clause.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. Counties, Cities and Towns Substitute (committee substitute) — source
4. Governor's Recommendation (committee substitute) — source
5. Local Government Substitute (committee substitute) — source
6. Reenrolled (committee substitute) — source
7. Subcommittee #3 Subcommittee Substitute (committee substitute) — source
8. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• H VOTE: — 67–30 (pass) · lower
• Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — 6–1 (pass) · lower
• Adopt Governor's Recommendation R — 22–18 (pass) · upper
• Passage R — 23–17 (pass) · upper
• H VOTE: — 66–30 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with substitute — 15–4 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Local Government with substitute — 9–6 (pass) · upper
• H VOTE: — 75–24 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Alex Q. Askew — primary (person)
• Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
• Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2026-01-06 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103668D filing, introduction
• 2026-01-06 Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns referral-committee
• 2026-01-20 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB168)
• 2026-01-20 Assigned HCCT sub: Subcommittee #3 referral-committee
• 2026-01-23 House subcommittee offered
• 2026-01-23 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 1-N) substitution
• 2026-01-23 Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with substitute (15-Y 4-N) committee-passage
• 2026-01-23 Committee substitute printed 26105950D-H1 substitution
• 2026-01-27 Read first time reading-1
• 2026-01-28 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-01-28 committee substitute agreed to substitution
• 2026-01-28 Engrossed by House - committee substitute substitution
• 2026-01-29 Read third time and passed House (75-Y 24-N 0-A) passage, reading-3
• 2026-01-30 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
• 2026-01-30 Referred to Committee on Local Government referral-committee
• 2026-02-04 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB168)
• 2026-02-23 Reported from Local Government with substitute (9-Y 6-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-23 Senate committee offered
• 2026-02-23 Committee substitute printed 26108414D-S1 substitution
• 2026-02-24 Rules suspended
• 2026-02-24 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
• 2026-02-24 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
• 2026-02-25 Read third time reading-3
• 2026-02-25 Local Government Substitute agreed to
• 2026-02-25 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute substitution
• 2026-02-25 Passed Senate with substitute (23-Y 17-N 0-A) passage
• 2026-02-26 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB168)
• 2026-02-27 Senate substitute agreed to by House (66-Y 30-N 0-A) substitution
• 2026-03-04 Enrolled enrolled
• 2026-03-04 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB168ER) passage
• 2026-03-04 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 04, 2026 enrolled, executive-receipt
• 2026-03-04 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 11, 2026 executive-receipt
• 2026-03-04 Governor's recommendation received by House executive-veto-line-item
• 2026-03-04 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2026-03-04 Signed by President passage
• 2026-03-06 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB168)
• 2026-03-06 House concurred in Governor's recommendation (67-Y 30-N 0-A)
• 2026-03-10 Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (22-Y 18-N 0-A)
• 2026-03-10 Governor's recommendation adopted executive-signature
• 2026-03-10 Reenrolled enrolled
• 2026-03-10 Reenrolled bill text (HB168ER2) enrolled
• 2026-03-10 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2026-03-10 Signed by President passage
• 2026-03-10 Approved by Governor-Chapter 10 (Effective 3/10/2026) executive-signature
• 2026-03-10 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0010)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/d09101af-6701-4702-abe6-a504ec644b77. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).