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2024 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections

Chair: Aaron R. Rouse

Clerk: Hobie Lehman, Madison Odallo
Staff: Brooks Braun
Date of Meeting: February 27, 2024
Time and Place: 15 mins after Senate Adjourns / Senate Room B, 3rd Floor, GAB
https://virginia-senate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3

H.B. 265

Patron: Simon

Removal of public officers from office; petition requirements; procedure. Requires the signatures collected on a petition for removal of certain public officers to be collected within 90 days of the first signature being collected and provides that no signatures gathered after such period shall count toward the required number. A petition for the removal of an elected official from office is not sufficient and shall not be certified by the general registrar when the grounds or reasons stated for removal of such official have been the basis for a previously filed petition against the same official that was dismissed for a failure to state valid grounds or did not result in the subject's removal from office at trial pursuant to law. The bill also provides that, in proceedings to remove a public officer from office, if the attorney for the Commonwealth who would be responsible for reviewing a removal petition and determining whether valid grounds for removal exist or for representing the Commonwealth at a removal proceeding has a conflict of interest or is otherwise unavailable, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia shall appoint an alternate attorney for the Commonwealth. Lastly, the bill provides that discovery shall not be permitted in any removal proceeding.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 24.2-233, 24.2-235, and 24.2-237 of the Code of Virginia, relating to removal of public officers from office; petition requirements; procedures.

24104458D

H.B. 623

Patron: Price

Rights of voters; covered practices; civil cause of action; standing, jurisdiction, and venue. Provides that, in addition to voters who are members of a protected class and the Attorney General, any organization whose membership includes voters who are members of a protected class or any organization whose mission, in whole or in part, is to ensure voting access shall be entitled to institute a civil cause of action for alleged violations of certain laws related to the rights of voters. The bill provides that the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond shall have jurisdiction over such actions and such actions shall be subject to expedited pretrial and trial proceedings and receive an automatic calendar preference. The bill also adds to the definition of "covered practice" any change that reduces the number of voter satellite offices in a locality or reduces the number of days or the hours of operation of a voter satellite office in a locality.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 24.2-126, 24.2-128, 24.2-129, and 24.2-130 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 1.1 of Title 24.2 a section numbered 24.2-132, relating to rights of voters; covered practices; civil cause of action; standing, jurisdiction, and venue.

24103841D

H.B. 742

Patron: O'Quinn

State Board of Elections; appointment of Commissioner of Elections. Provides for the appointment of the Commissioner of Elections to be made by the State Board of Elections; currently, the Governor makes such appointment. The appointment or removal of a Commissioner shall require an affirmative vote of four of the five members of the Board. The Commissioner shall be subject to confirmation and reconfirmation by the General Assembly every four years. If the Board fails to make or communicate an appointment of a Commissioner by the end of the term, the bill provides that the Commissioner serving at such time shall be deemed to be reappointed and shall be subject to reconfirmation at the next regular session. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-106, 2.2-2905, and 24.2-102 of the Code of Virginia, relating to State Board of Elections; Commissioner of Elections.

24107508D

H.B. 904

Patron: Price

Voter registration; list maintenance activities; cancellation procedures; required record matches; required identification information; data standards. Requires certain, specified identification information to be included on the lists received by the Department of Elections for list maintenance purposes and requires the Department, upon receiving any such list, to do an initial comparison of the information included on such list with the list of registered voters and determine the confidence score for any match. Matches with a confidence score of at least 80 are transmitted to the appropriate general registrars. The bill prohibits the use of voter data received from another state or jurisdiction or through a list comparison for list maintenance purposes when the data file does not include a unique identifier for each individual whose information is contained in the data file. The bill requires the Department of Elections to annually review all sources of data utilized for list maintenance activities for the purpose of determining the validity, completeness, accuracy, and reliability of the data received from each source, and to include the results of such review in its annual report to the Committees on Privileges and Elections regarding its list maintenance activities. The bill requires the general registrars to send notice prior to cancelling a voter's record regardless of the reason for cancellation. Lastly, the bill clarifies that when a voter's registration is cancelled, a cancellation record must be created, and that such records are public in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the National Voter Registration Act. The bill includes numerous technical amendments for organizational purposes.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-3711, as it is currently effective and as it may become effective, 24.2-401, 24.2-404, 24.2-408, 24.2-409, 24.2-410, 24.2-410.1, 24.2-427, 24.2-435, 24.2-444, and 24.2-703.1 of the Code of Virginia; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 24.2-407.2, by adding in Chapter 4 of Title 24.2 an article numbered 2.1 and by adding in such article sections numbered 24.2-407.3 and 24.2-410.3 through 24.2-410.6, and by adding a section numbered 24.2-426.1; and to repeal §§ 24.2-404.3, 24.2-404.4, 24.2-410.2, 24.2-428, 24.2-428.1, and 24.2-428.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to voter registration; list maintenance activities; cancellation procedures; record matches; required identification information; data standards.

24106406D

H.B. 939

Patron: Shin

Elections administration; certain activities or conduct prohibited at polling places applicable to locations for absentee voting in person; prohibited possession of firearm within 100 feet of certain locations. Clarifies that the provisions of law prohibiting certain activities or conduct in and around a polling place shall also apply to locations where absentee voting in person is available. The bill also prohibits any person, with certain exceptions, from knowingly carrying a firearm on or about his person within 100 feet of the entrance of a polling place, the building used by the local electoral board to meet to ascertain election results, the building used to conduct a recount of an election, and other additional locations used for voting-related and elections-related activities.. Under current law, this prohibition applies within 40 feet of such entrances.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 24.2-107, 24.2-411, 24.2-413, 24.2-604, 24.2-653.01, 24.2-671, 24.2-679, 24.2-701.1, 24.2-707.1, 24.2-712, and 24.2-802.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to elections administration; certain activities or conduct prohibited at polling places applicable to locations for absentee voting in person; possession of firearm within 100 feet of locations used for certain voting-related and elections-related activities; penalty.

24106402D

H.B. 942

Patron: Shin

Polling places and voter satellite offices; prohibited locations. Prohibits the placement of a polling place or a voter satellite office within a police station or sheriff's office, but permits the placement in a public building that houses multiple offices that include a police station or sheriff's office.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 24.2-310 and 24.2-701.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to polling places and voter satellite offices; prohibited locations.

24106405D

H.B. 1171

Patron: Wachsmann

Absentee voting; processing absentee ballots returned before election day; processing upon receipt. Requires the general registrars to complete the initial processing of absentee ballots that are returned before election day within three business days of receipt. Under current law, registrars are directed to mark the date of receipt in the voter's record and examine the ballot envelope to verify completion of the required voter affirmation when an absentee ballot is returned but are not subject to a deadline for doing so.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 24.2-709.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to absentee voting; processing absentee ballots returned before election day; processing upon receipt.

24101142D

H.B. 1490

Patron: Reaser

Absentee voting in person; voter satellite offices; days and hours of operation. Authorizes the governing body of any county or city establishing voter satellite offices for absentee voting in person to prescribe, by ordinance, the dates and hours of operation for such offices. The bill prohibits any reduction in the dates or hours of operation of such offices to be enacted within 60 days of any general election.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 24.2-701.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to absentee voting in person; voter satellite offices; days and hours of operation.

24104399D