The following bills passed both houses of the General Assembly and were signed by the Governor. Most bills become effective July 1, 2007 (pending preclearance by DOJ). “Emergency” bills are effective when they are signed by the Governor or enacted.
Full texts of bills are available
online at http://leg1.state.va.us/. 
HB 1642
Patron: Alexander
Amended: §§ 24.2-101, 24.2-107, 24.2-442, 24.2-443.3, and 24.2-444
Elections; voter registration records. Clarifies the duties of local electoral boards, general registrars, and the State Board of Elections regarding voter registration records and exceptions from public inspection.
HB 1835
Patron: Amundson
Amending § 24.2-1005.1
Communicating of flase information to registered voter. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to knowingly communicate false information to a registered voter about the date, time and place of the election or the voter's precinct, polling place, or voter registration status in order to impede his voting,
HB 1935
Parron: Rapp
Amending §24.2-701 C. 1.
Elections; applications for absentee ballots. Requires that applications for absentee ballots contain the last four digits of the applicants social security number.
HB 1977
Patron: Fralin, Jr.
Amending § 24.2-952.7
Elections; campaign finance; inaugural committees; final report and surplus funds. Provides that surplus inaugural committee funds shall be used to only to return contributions to contributors or make charitable contributions. Applies to funds and receipts received by inaugural committees after July 1, 2007. Funds and receipts before that date continue to be governed byprior law.
HB 2050
Patron: McQuigg
Amending § 15.2-1646
County Executive form of government; boards of supervisors; powers, elections, terms and vacancies. Amends a provision applicable to Prince William County and the filing of a vacancy in the board. When a vacancy occurs just prior to a general election so that the special election to fill the vacancy cannot be held at that general election, the bill provides that the court shall order a special election to fill that vacancy not fewer than 45 and not more than 60 days after that general election.
HB 2101
Patron: Orrock, Sr
Amending § 30-19.10
Elections; statewide bond referendum to include fiscal impact statement for voters. Requires legislation authorizing statewide bond referendum to include information about the referendum for distribution to voters. The information must include a neutral explanation about the proposed ballot question, or a fiscal impact statement for any bond referendum, presented in plain English. The fiscal impact statement must include descriptions of the need for and anticipated uses of the bond proceeds. The Division of Legislative Services, with the assistance of the Office of the Attorney General, must prepare the neutral explanation. The staffs of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee Finance are directed to each prepare a fiscal impact statement for any bond referendum and assist the Division of Legislative Services in preparing the explanation. The State Board of Elections is required to publish the information by paid advertisement in daily newspapers with an average daily circulation of more than 50K in Virginia once during the week preceding the referendum.
HB 2141
Patron: Brink
Amending §§ 24.2-107, 24.2-405, 24.2-406, 24.2-411.1, 24.2-411.2, 24.2-416.5, 24.2-427, 24.2.444, 24.2-533, 24.2-706, and 24.2-1002.1
Elections; voter registration records; authorize matching with lists of other states; State Board of Elections to develop security policies and make annual report. Authorizes the State Board of Elections to furnish voter lists to other states with protections for privacy of voter social security numbers. Authorizes cancellation of voter registration based on information from registration officials of other states. Makes conforming changes to sections referring to social security numbers to prohibit disclosure of parts of numbers. Requires the State Board of Elections to (i) approve security procedures for transmitting voter lists to other states' Chief Election Officers, and (ii) monitor implementation with annual statistical reporting to the General Assembly starting July 1, 2008.
HB 2287
Patron: Watts
Amending to add: §24.2-709.1
Absentee voting; alternative procedures to expedite counting preparations. Authorizes the electoral board to give the general registrar the option to expedite preparations for counting optical scan absentee ballots returned by mail. The board can authorize verifying completion of the required affirmation, marking the pollbook, and inserting ballots in optical scan equipment in the presence of officers of election representing both parties without initiating any vote counts. Prohibits persons present during the preparations from disclosing any information concerning the ballots. This bill is identical to SB 1334.
HB 2354
Patron: Cosgrove
Amending: §24.2-668 and §24.2.802
Elections; recount procedures. Provides for the securing by the circuit court clerks of ballots and election materials after an election and pending a recount.
HB 2386
Patron: May
Amending: §§24.2.946.1, 24.2-947.1, 24.2-947.5, and 24.2-947.9
Campaign finance disclosure; filings of candidate reports. Requires the State Board of Elections to develop and implement a centralized system to accept reports from local office candidates by July 1, 2007. Local office candidates who file electronically with the State Board will not be required to file locally, and the State Board shall make the filings available promptly to the local electoral board. The bill takes effect only if adequate funding or programming is available to implement the centralized system for accepting the local reports. This bill is identical to SB 1015.
HB 2650
Patron: Jones
Amending: §24.2-945.1 and 24.2-945.2
Campaign finance disclosure; definitions; reporting requirements. Codifies the "express advocacy" standard. The Virginia Supreme Court held in Virginia Society for Human Life, Inc. v. Caldwell, 256 Va. 151, 500 S.E.2d 814 (1998), that Virginia's campaign finance disclosure laws apply only to “express advocacy” and that the phrase “for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election” will be interpreted to mean "express advocacy.” This bill reflects a recommendation of the task force that assisted the State Board of Elections in conducting a review in 2005 of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act pursuant to House Joint Resolution 667 (2005).
HB 2707
Patron: Hugo
Amending § 24.2-626 and 24.2-802 adding 24.2-625.2 and 24.2-626.1
Election procedures; voting equipment requirements; recounts. Prohibits future purchases of direct recording electronic (DRE) devices; and provides for the phase out of DRE devices as the devices now in operation wear out. Prohibits any form of wireless comommunication to or from voting or counting devices while polls are open on election day. Requires localities to provide accessible equipment for disabled voters. The bill deleted obsolete references to mechanical voting equipment and punchcard devices. The bill incorporates HB's 2077 and 2734 and as passed is identical to SB840.
HB 2740
Patron: Englin
Amending §24.2-945.2
Campaign finance; deadline for reports of independent expenditures; filings by political action and political party committees. Requires filing independent expenditure reports by earlier of 24 hours after (i) making expenditure, or (ii) publishing or publicly broadcasting materials to influence voting for or against an identified candidate. Requires that independent expenditure reports filed by a political action committee or political party committee that has not yet filed a statement of organization provide the information required on a statement of organization. Current law allows a committee 10 days after it is organized to file its statement of organization. This bill requires a political action committee or political party committee that makes an independent expenditure during this 10-day period or any period during which the committee has not filed a statement of organization to file a report with complete information within 24 hours of spending funds or publishing or publicly broadcasting candidate-related materials.
HB 2818
Patron: Sickles
Amending: §24.2-604
Elections; polling place activities and restrictions; pollwatchers. Allows officers of election discretion to permit up to three representatives of each party or candidate to remain in the polling place to observe the election in all cases. Present law requires allowing presence of at least one representative per party or candidate or, if the pollbook is divided into sections, one representative per section not to exceed three representatives per party or candidate at the same time.
HB 2852
Patron: Moran
Amending: §24.2-945.1 and §24.2-949.2
Campaign finance; special registration provisions for certain committees. Provides that the State Board of Elections shall not accept the statement of organization from or register a political action committee unless the PAC states that its primary purpose is to influence the outcome of nonfederal elections in Virginia. Makes conforming changes in the definitions pertaining to campaign finance. Defines "primary purpose" as meaning 50% or more of overall contributions made by a committee are made to Virginia registered campaigns and committees, excluding administrative expenses and transfers among affiliates. Applies to expenditures of funds received on or after July 1, 2007.
HB 3025
Patron: Cox
Amends: §24.2-105.1
Elections; voter participation; information provided by State Board of Elections. Requires the State Board of Elections to continue its current practice of providing elections results and statistical information on its website. Requires calculation and report on voter turnout to exclude voters assigned to inactive status. Voters are assigned to inactive status pursuant to §§ 24.2-428 and 24.2-428.1 if they fail to respond within 30 days to a notice issued by general registrar or other specified events.
HB 3168
Patron: Dance
Amends §24.2-653
Elections; persons not listed in pollbook; application for registration and provisional ballot. Requires officers of election to provide persons offering to vote not listed in pollbook an application for registration along with a provisional ballot. Allows counting the provisional ballot if the voter or State Board of Elections proves that a timely registration application was submitted to another state-designated registration agency and the registrar determines the voter is qualified based on the application provided when he offered to vote.
SB 736
Patron: Martin
Amends: §24.2-102
State Board of Elections. Prohibits a board member from running for an elected office, serving as a political party committee chairman, or being a paid worker for a candidate campaigning for elected office. This bill is identical to SB 775.
SB 840
Patron: Davis
Amends: §24.2-626 and §24.2-802
Election procedures; voting equipment requirements; recounts. Prohibits future purchases of direct recording electronic (DRE) devices; and provides for the phase out of DRE devices as the devices now in operation wear out. Prohibits any form of wireless communication to or from voting or counting devices while polls are open on election day. Requires localities to provide accessible equipment for disabled voters. The bill deletes obsolete references to mechanical voting equipment and punchcard devices. This bill is identical to HB 2707 as passed and incorporates SB 878.
SB 1015
Patron: Norment, Jr.
Amends: §§24.2-946.1, 24.2-947.1, 24.2-947.5, 24.2-947.9
Campaign finance disclosure; filings of candidate reports. Requires the State Board of Elections to develop and implement a centralized system to accept reports from local office candidates by July 1, 2007. Local office candidates who file electronically with the State Board will not be required to file locally, and the State Board shall make the filings available promptly to the local electoral board. The bill takes effect only if adequate funding or programming is available to implement the centralized system for accepting the local reports. This bill is identical to HB 2386.
SB 1034
Patron: O'Brien
Amends: §24.2.651
Elections; challenges to voters at the polls. Provides that a person challenging a person's right to vote at the polls shall complete a form and indicate the reason for his challenge. Expands grounds for challenge to include that the person (i) is not who he represents himself to be, or (ii) has already voted. Corrects affirmation required of challenged voter to include town residency for town elections.
SB 1226
Patron: Howell
Amends: §§ 24.2-625.1 and 24.2-629
Electronic voting equipment; security. Requires local electoral boards to develop plans and procedures to ensure the security of electronic voting systems. Requires the general registrar and State Board of Elections to provide assistance in the development of these plans, upon request. The bill also requires vendors of electronic voting systems to provide written best practices about the secure use of the systems when applying for certification in the Commonwealth and to annually update these practices once certified.
SB 1334
Patron: Reynolds
Adding: §24.2-709.1
Absentee voting; alternative procedures to expedite counting preparations. Authorizes the electoral board to give a general registrar the option to expedite preparations for counting optical scan absentee ballots returned by mail. The board can authorize verifying completion of the required affirmation, marking the pollbook, and inserting ballots in optical scan equipment in the presence of officers of election representing both parties without initiating any vote counts. Prohibits persons present during the preparations from disclosing any information concerning the ballots. This bill is identical to HB 2287.