HB 319 VA

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Secretary of Administration; work group on automatic voter registration. Directs the Department of Elections to convene a work group for the purpose of studying the implementation of back-end, opt-out automatic voter registration (AVR) in the Commonwealth. The work group shall include representatives of the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, and the Office of the Attorney General, in addition to members of the House and Senate Committees on Privileges and Elections, general registrars, and organizations advocating for or working on voting rights and data privacy. The work group is tasked with considering the effectiveness, efficiency, and security of back-end, opt-out AVR as compared to Virginia's current front-end, opt-out process and identifying the costs and benefits of moving to such a system. The Secretary of Administration is required to submit a report of the work group's findings to the Chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Privileges and Elections by November 1, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 658.

• Phil M. Hernandez Democratic · primary

1. Jan 10, 2026 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101442D · lower
2. Jan 10, 2026 Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections · lower
3. Feb 3, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB319) · lower
4. Feb 6, 2026 Assigned HPE sub: Election Administration · lower
5. Feb 9, 2026 Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 2-N) · lower
6. Feb 13, 2026 Reported from Privileges and Elections (15-Y 6-N) · lower
7. Feb 15, 2026 Read first time · lower
8. Feb 16, 2026 Read second time and engrossed · lower
9. Feb 17, 2026 Read third time and passed House (61-Y 35-N 0-A) · lower
10. Feb 18, 2026 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) · upper
11. Feb 18, 2026 Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections · upper
12. Feb 24, 2026 Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (8-Y 7-N) · upper
13. Feb 24, 2026 Senate committee offered · upper
14. Feb 24, 2026 Senate committee offered · upper
15. Feb 24, 2026 Committee substitute printed 26108498D-S1 · upper
16. Feb 26, 2026 Rules suspended · upper
17. Feb 26, 2026 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) · upper
18. Feb 26, 2026 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) · upper
19. Feb 27, 2026 Read third time · upper
20. Feb 27, 2026 Passed by for the day · upper
21. Mar 2, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB319) · lower
22. Mar 2, 2026 Privileges and Elections Substitute agreed to · upper
23. Mar 2, 2026 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute · upper
24. Mar 2, 2026 Passed Senate with substitute (21-Y 19-N 0-A) · upper
25. Mar 4, 2026 Senate substitute rejected by House (0-Y 96-N 0-A) · lower
26. Mar 6, 2026 Senate insisted on amendments (40-Y 0-N 0-A) · upper
27. Mar 6, 2026 Senate requested conference committee · upper
28. Mar 9, 2026 House acceded to request · lower
29. Mar 10, 2026 Conferees appointed by Senate · upper
30. Mar 10, 2026 Senate Conferees: Rouse, Deeds, Williams Graves · upper
31. Mar 12, 2026 Conferees appointed by House · lower
32. Mar 12, 2026 House Conferees: Hernandez, Price, Cherry · lower
33. Mar 13, 2026 Conference Report released · legislature
34. Mar 13, 2026 Conference report agreed to by Senate (21-Y 16-N 0-A) · upper
35. Mar 13, 2026 Conference report agreed to by House (61-Y 31-N 0-A) · lower
36. Mar 16, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB319) · lower
37. Mar 30, 2026 Enrolled · lower
38. Mar 30, 2026 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB319ER) · lower
39. Mar 30, 2026 Signed by President · upper
40. Mar 31, 2026 Signed by Speaker · lower
41. Mar 31, 2026 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 · lower
42. Mar 31, 2026 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 · executive
43. Apr 6, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB319) · lower
44. Apr 13, 2026 Approved by Governor-Chapter 589 (effective 7/1/2026) · executive
45. Apr 13, 2026 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0589) · executive

The published texts of this bill as it moves through the legislature. Each links to the official document on the state legislature site. Data from OpenStates.

• Chaptered · PDF
• Chaptered · HTML
• Enrolled · PDF
• Enrolled · HTML
• Conference Report · HTML
• Conference Report Substitute · PDF
• Conference Report Substitute · HTML
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · PDF
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · HTML
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · PDF
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · HTML
• Introduced · PDF
• Introduced · HTML