republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-198.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Local government; review of decision by board of zoning appeals, procedures for filing petition."
description: "Local governing body; review of decision by board of zoning appeals; procedures for filing petition. Makes various changes and clarifications to the procedures following the filing of a petition in a circuit court by a party aggrieved by a decision of the board of zoning appeals. Current law provides that a circuit court, upon presentation of the petition, shall allow a writ of certiorari to review such decision and includes certain timing requirements for service upon and response by the board of zoning appeals. The bill clarifies that the petition shall be served upon the secretary or chair of the board of zoning appeals within 30 days after the petition is filed with the clerk of the circuit court and that, within 21 days of being served with the petition, the secretary of the board of zoning appeals shall file the record of the proceedings at issue in the petition. The bill also updates other procedures, such as the time requirements for the filing of responsive pleadings, to be consistent with the various changes and clarifications throughout the bill. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 198"
citation: "Virginia HB 198 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Joshua E. Thomas"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-07"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f2919a6c-fa60-44b2-b731-9bdc3a224e05"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB198"
source_hash: "47a846edeacece875e2240de52e057db4e489ecc1be0c1607ac9400852c422a7"
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 198 (2026) — Local government; review of decision by board of zoning appeals, procedures for filing petition.

Local governing body; review of decision by board of zoning appeals; procedures for filing petition. Makes various changes and clarifications to the procedures following the filing of a petition in a circuit court by a party aggrieved by a decision of the board of zoning appeals. Current law provides that a circuit court, upon presentation of the petition, shall allow a writ of certiorari to review such decision and includes certain timing requirements for service upon and response by the board of zoning appeals. The bill clarifies that the petition shall be served upon the secretary or chair of the board of zoning appeals within 30 days after the petition is filed with the clerk of the circuit court and that, within 21 days of being served with the petition, the secretary of the board of zoning appeals shall file the record of the proceedings at issue in the petition. The bill also updates other procedures, such as the time requirements for the filing of responsive pleadings, to be consistent with the various changes and clarifications throughout the bill. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

## 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/1083034.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217710.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1210621.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Joshua E. Thomas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103516D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-07** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-19** Assigned HCJ sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 1-N)
- **2026-01-28** Reported from Courts of Justice (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-02** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-03** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-04** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported from Courts of Justice (11-Y 0-N 3-A) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-09** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-09** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-09** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB198ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 368 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0368)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f2919a6c-fa60-44b2-b731-9bdc3a224e05`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).