republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-289.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Hopewell, City of; amending charter, membership of Hopewell Water Renewal Commission."
description: "Charter; City of Hopewell; Hopewell Water Renewal Commission. Changes the membership makeup of the Hopewell Water Renewal Commission (the Commission) by providing that up to seven members shall be selected from nominees submitted by users, with each user being permitted to nominate one member. The bill specifies that each new nominating user shall provide a reasonable, market-based capital contribution based on expected facility usage and consistent with the net present value of the existing users' prior capital contributions. The bill also establishes that, in order for actions or decisions made by the Commission to be effective, they must be agreed to by (i) a majority of its members and (ii) either the city manager or the member of the city council serving on the Commission. Finally, the bill removes the city council's authority to overrule actions of the Commission and to prescribe further duties to the Commission."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 289"
citation: "Virginia SB 289 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lashrecse D. Aird"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/85d6405a-5921-4b37-af8b-423851580c70"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB289"
source_hash: "a17030c95a5483eb77f3406c10d5b05d239556c8d276b51d396153de4ca72a25"
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 289 (2026) — Hopewell, City of; amending charter, membership of Hopewell Water Renewal Commission.

Charter; City of Hopewell; Hopewell Water Renewal Commission. Changes the membership makeup of the Hopewell Water Renewal Commission (the Commission) by providing that up to seven members shall be selected from nominees submitted by users, with each user being permitted to nominate one member. The bill specifies that each new nominating user shall provide a reasonable, market-based capital contribution based on expected facility usage and consistent with the net present value of the existing users' prior capital contributions. The bill also establishes that, in order for actions or decisions made by the Commission to be effective, they must be agreed to by (i) a majority of its members and (ii) either the city manager or the member of the city council serving on the Commission. Finally, the bill removes the city council's authority to overrule actions of the Commission and to prescribe further duties to the Commission.

## 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/1088556.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1218062.PDF)
3. **Local Government Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1090202.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1181505.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Local Government with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns — **21–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lashrecse D. Aird — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100658D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-19** Senate committee offered
- **2026-01-20** Committee substitute printed 26105710D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-01-20** Reported from Local Government with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-20** Rules suspended
- **2026-01-20** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-01-20** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-01-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-01-21** Local Government Substitute agreed to (Voice Vote)
- **2026-01-21** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute Block Vote (Voice Vote) `substitution`
- **2026-01-22** Read third time and passed Senate Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2026-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-03** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-17** Assigned HCCT sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2026-02-20** Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-25** Passed House (97-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-27** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB289ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 492 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0492)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/85d6405a-5921-4b37-af8b-423851580c70`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).