republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-736.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Clerks' offices; days of operation, clerks' authority to close office."
description: "Days of operation of clerks' offices; clerks'authority to close office. Allows the clerk of the circuit courtof any county or city to close the clerk's office on (i) ChristmasEve; (ii) any day when such clerk determines that operation of theclerk's office, under prevailing conditions, would constitute a threatto the health and safety of the clerk's office personnel or the generalpublic; (iii) any day or portion of a day that the Governor declaresas a holiday for state employees; and (iv) any day or portion ofa day on which the Governor, Supreme Court, or Judicial Council authorizesstate offices to be closed. Under current law, the clerk may onlyclose the clerk's office once a judge authorizes such clerk to doso."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 736"
citation: "Virginia SB 736 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ryan T. McDougle"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-01-19"
last_action: "2024-04-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b86f299-a11b-4690-9d22-806c94a8bfcc"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB736"
source_hash: "88f4119799419ab89b9e60ce622b7219f971ee681eb219c794c6c24ae3435198"
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 736 (2024) — Clerks' offices; days of operation, clerks' authority to close office.

Days of operation of clerks' offices; clerks'authority to close office. Allows the clerk of the circuit courtof any county or city to close the clerk's office on (i) ChristmasEve; (ii) any day when such clerk determines that operation of theclerk's office, under prevailing conditions, would constitute a threatto the health and safety of the clerk's office personnel or the generalpublic; (iii) any day or portion of a day that the Governor declaresas a holiday for state employees; and (iv) any day or portion ofa day on which the Governor, Supreme Court, or Judicial Council authorizesstate offices to be closed. Under current law, the clerk may onlyclose the clerk's office once a judge authorizes such clerk to doso.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0521** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0521)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24107807D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB736H1)
3. **Presented and ordered printed 24105101D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB736)
4. **Printed as engrossed 24105101D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB736E)
5. **SB736ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB736ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (14-Y 1-N) — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (17-Y 5-N) — **17–5** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (85-Y 14-N) — **84–14** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ryan T. McDougle — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 24105101D `introduction`
- **2024-01-19** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments (14-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-09** Reading of amendments waived
- **2024-02-09** Committee amendments agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-09** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB736E
- **2024-02-09** Printed as engrossed 24105101D-E
- **2024-02-12** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-15** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-15** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Committee substitute printed 24107807D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-16** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (17-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-21** Committee substitute agreed to 24107807D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-21** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB736H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-21** Passed House with substitute (85-Y 14-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-21** VOTE: Passage (85-Y 14-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-23** House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2024-02-23** Title replaced 24107807D-H1
- **2024-02-28** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-28** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB736ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-02** 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`
- **2024-04-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 521 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-04** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0521)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5b86f299-a11b-4690-9d22-806c94a8bfcc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).