republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/hb-306.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public defenders; appointment of counsel, caseload exception."
description: "Appointment of counsel; public defenders; caseload exception. Exempts the public defender, in counties and cities where public defender offices are established, from providing defense services for indigent clients if the public defender, with the concurrence of the executive director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission or his designee, determines that the public defender's current active caseload would preclude the public defender from providing adequate representation to new clients."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 306"
citation: "Virginia HB 306 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jason S. Ballard"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 35
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2024-01-05"
last_action: "2024-04-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3f799bf9-6d1c-4311-a42e-b6268624661d"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB306"
source_hash: "939509610507b7e7a9b8c84a646d4ddad5f4a70a9bffbd325135af8fe7866941"
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 HB 306 (2024) — Public defenders; appointment of counsel, caseload exception.

Appointment of counsel; public defenders; caseload exception. Exempts the public defender, in counties and cities where public defender offices are established, from providing defense services for indigent clients if the public defender, with the concurrence of the executive director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission or his designee, determines that the public defender's current active caseload would preclude the public defender from providing adequate representation to new clients.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0524** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0524)
2. **HB306ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB306ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100774D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB306)
4. **Printed as engrossed 24100774D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB306E)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jason S. Ballard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100774D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-18** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-19** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N)
- **2024-01-26** Assigned App. sub: General Government and Capital Outlay `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-26** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-26** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
- **2024-01-31** Reported from Appropriations (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-04** Impact statement from DPB (HB306)
- **2024-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-05** Committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-05** Engrossed by House as amended HB306E
- **2024-02-05** Printed as engrossed 24100774D-E
- **2024-02-05** Impact statement from DPB (HB306E)
- **2024-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-06** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2024-02-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-21** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-21** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-27** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-27** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-28** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-05** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-05** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB306ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (HB306ER)
- **2024-03-05** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 524 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-05** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0524)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3f799bf9-6d1c-4311-a42e-b6268624661d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).