Legislation giving Arlington residents more local-governance options has cleared a key hurdle in Richmond.
But it has two more to go.
A bill patroned by Del. Patrick Hope (D-1) providing for the option of referendums to change key components of local government on Jan. 30 passed the House of Delegates on a 54-40 vote.
A smattering of Republicans joined all voting Democrats in support of the measure.
The bill now heads to consideration in the Virginia Senate. There is no companion bill that was considered by the Senate in the first half of the session.
The measure won’t officially be in the hands of senators until “crossover” on Tuesday (Feb. 4). Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40), who represents most of Arlington in the upper house of the legislature, declined to comment on the measure’s prospects.
Hope’s bill would allow Arlington to hold voter referendums on:
- Altering the size of the County Board, currently set at five, to any number between three and 11 members.
- Changing the method of election of Board members, currently all at-large, to either a district-based system or a hybrid of districts and at-large representation.
On each matter, either the Board or the public (10% of the electorate) could petition the Circuit Court to hold a referendum. If passed by voters, Board members would have the option, but not the obligation, to make changes to the status quo.
A third component of Hope’s bill would allow a referendum on whether the Board chair should be elected separately from other members. Support in a referendum on that issue would automatically trigger the change to an elected Board chair; Board members would have no discretion.
If the overall measure — House Bill (HB) 2768 — wins passage in the Senate, it would go to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). During his first three years in office, Youngkin at times has been hostile to legislation promoted by the Arlington delegation.
Asked by ARLnow if he had held conversations on the measure with the Youngkin or his staff, Hope declined comment.
“This bill has to get out of the Senate,” he said.
Former Del. Bob Brink, who served in both the legislative and executive branches of Virginia government, told ARLnow that connecting with the governor’s staff on the bill at this point is likely premature.
“It’s only on major bills that there would be interaction with the Third Floor [governor’s office] at this point,” he said. “As important as this bill is to Arlington, it’s not ‘major’ in the greater scheme of things.”
Hope introduced a similar measure in the 2024 legislation session, but agreed to defer its consideration after a hostile response from several Arlington local-government leaders.
There has been no rush to embrace the new bill by those same leaders this year, but there does seem to be a willingness to consider changes.
At the Board’s 2025 organizational meeting, held Jan. 7, member Matt de Ferranti said he would support a “County Board-directed, citizen-led commission” to discuss governance issues.
“Speaking for myself as one member of the Board, we would benefit from analyzing what has worked and what will serve us best going forward,” de Ferranti said.
JD Spain, Sr., the Board’s newest member, echoed those comments at the Jan. 7 meeting.
“I support a public conversation about future initiatives, to include establishing a County Board‐directed commission,” he said.
Such an approach would keep control of the process somewhat in the hands of local leaders. In a press release following his bill’s victory in the House of Delegates, Hope said final decision should be made by the public.
“I continue to work with the community and my constituents directly to let Arlingtonians, not politicians, vote to provide the County Board with the power and the flexibility to allow for expanded self-governance,” he wrote.
Hope’s legislative proposal has the backing of the Arlington County Civic Federation, which in 2023 voted to support a number of government-change concepts. It also is supported by the Arlington County Republican Committee.
The Arlington County Democratic Committee has not publicly discussed the proposal, and party chair Steve Baker did not respond to an earlier ARLnow inquiry about the party’s views on it.
Arlington’s current form of government, a five-member Board overseeing an appointed county manager, has been in place since 1932.
For the 60 years before that, Arlington (before 1920 known as Alexandria County) was governed by a three-member, district-based Board of Supervisors that exercised legislative, executive and quasi-judicial functions.
Arlington is unique among Virginia counties in having adopted what is known as the county manager plan of government. Because of that, any significant governance changes over the past 92 years have required authorization by the state legislature, while most other localities can make similar structural changes without interacting with Richmond.
