republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2025/hb-1971.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Danville, City of; new charter (previous charter repealed)."
description: "Charter; City of Danville. Establishes a new charter for the City of Danville and repeals the current charter, which was created in 1982. The proposed charter sets out the organization of the city's government and contains powers typically granted to cities. Changes in the new charter include (i) replacing the current borrowing process with the process established by state law, (ii) eliminating the city council supermajority required to pass certain ordinances related to revenue and spending in conformance with state law, (iii) clarifying that certain council actions require a majority vote of those members present and voting rather than an absolute majority, (iv) eliminating the requirement that organizational changes to city departments and divisions be by ordinance, (v) reducing the maximum dollar limit required to be approved by ordinance to reflect a mandatory requirement of state law, and (vi) reducing from three to two the number of council members who can request a special meeting to reflect a mandatory requirement of state law. The bill makes numerous other clarifying and technical changes. This bill is identical to SB 1206."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 1971"
citation: "Virginia HB 1971 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Daniel W. Marshall, III"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-01-07"
last_action: "2025-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7adea7b3-daab-41bb-ad91-339f7b71d809"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1971"
source_hash: "e6cd216d1652a7b39039f3b7a8cbaf3105ff2a616778589d79657bd166494aab"
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# Virginia HB 1971 (2025) — Danville, City of; new charter (previous charter repealed).

Charter; City of Danville. Establishes a new charter for the City of Danville and repeals the current charter, which was created in 1982. The proposed charter sets out the organization of the city's government and contains powers typically granted to cities. Changes in the new charter include (i) replacing the current borrowing process with the process established by state law, (ii) eliminating the city council supermajority required to pass certain ordinances related to revenue and spending in conformance with state law, (iii) clarifying that certain council actions require a majority vote of those members present and voting rather than an absolute majority, (iv) eliminating the requirement that organizational changes to city departments and divisions be by ordinance, (v) reducing the maximum dollar limit required to be approved by ordinance to reflect a mandatory requirement of state law, and (vi) reducing from three to two the number of council members who can request a special meeting to reflect a mandatory requirement of state law. The bill makes numerous other clarifying and technical changes. This bill is identical to SB 1206.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1014308.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1071086.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1050197.PDF)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (21-Y 1-N) — **21–1** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Daniel W. Marshall, III — primary (person)
- Eric Phillips — cosponsor (person)
- Tammy Brankley Mulchi — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-13-2025 25102083D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-07** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-20** Assigned CCT sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2025-01-31** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-02-03** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-02-04** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2025-02-05** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-10** Reported from Local Government (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-11** Rules suspended
- **2025-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-11** Passed by for the day
- **2025-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-12** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-17** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-02-17** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1971ER) `passage`
- **2025-02-17** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-20** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 51 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-18** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0051)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7adea7b3-daab-41bb-ad91-339f7b71d809`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).