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Fairfax County’s concerns helped derail a Virginia bill designed to prevent local elected bodies from taking last-minute votes on measures that had not been publicly posted before a meeting.
The House procurement and open government subcommittee voted 7-0 on Tuesday to send Senate Bill 876 to the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council for further review. The referral ended the proposal’s prospects for the General Assembly’s 2025 session.
The delay came after the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Adam Ebbin, a Democrat representing the 39th District, passed the Senate unanimously on Jan. 31.
“I feel we should slow this down just a bit,” Del. Marcus Simon, a Democrat representing the 13th District, told Ebbin during the hearing. Simon serves on the subcommittee and chairs the FOIA advisory council.
“I like what you’re trying to do — I just don’t want to do it in a hurry,” Simon said.
The bill’s most consequential provision would have required elected bodies, including county boards of supervisors, to post measures before meetings if officials planned to vote on them. Items introduced after a meeting began could be discussed but generally could not receive a vote until a later date.
The proposal included an exception for “time-sensitive” matters, but critics warned that the phrase lacked a clear legal definition.
Jason Morgan, an attorney and parliamentarian, called the wording “just too vague” and said it could create confusion or give local officials room to misuse the exception.
Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said an earlier draft referred to “emergency” actions. That term was changed because of concerns about its negative connotations.
The coalition worked with Ebbin and other organizations to develop the legislation. The final proposal gained support from groups including the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Press Association.
Objections emerged from Fairfax and Arlington counties after the measure cleared the Senate. Arlington officials questioned provisions governing actions taken in executive sessions but shifted to a neutral position after Ebbin accepted language that Rhyne described as a workable solution.
Fairfax County continued to oppose the entire bill. Claudia Arko, the county government’s chief lobbyist, told the House panel that Ebbin had listened to Fairfax’s objections, but the revised measure still concerned the Board of Supervisors.
Arko said language intended to provide flexibility could expose localities to legal challenges and produce unintended consequences.
She cited a 2023 Virginia Supreme Court decision that invalidated Fairfax County’s sweeping zoning ordinance rewrite. The justices found that county officials violated open-meetings requirements while adopting the overhaul in 2021 during the COVID crisis.
The ruling forced the Board of Supervisors to hold new hearings and adopt the zoning revisions again. Arko said similar situations elsewhere in Virginia have left local leaders uncertain about how courts might interpret their actions.
Arko asked lawmakers to send the proposal to the FOIA advisory council for study and recommendations. Rhyne expressed frustration that legislators agreed, saying Fairfax did not raise its opposition until the Friday after the bill had passed the Senate unanimously.
Rhyne said the bill’s supporters had addressed Arlington’s objections but still failed to secure its support. She argued that the legislation could have provided safeguards against last-minute government actions in 2025 instead of waiting another year for the council’s review.