Virginia 2018 ballot measures

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Two statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in Virginia on November 6, 2018. Both were approved.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Question 1	Taxes	Authorizes local property tax exemptions for flood abatement, mitigation, or resiliency	a
LRCA	Question 2	Taxes	Removes a restriction on a tax exemption for the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran	a

Getting measures on the ballot

As of 2018, Virginia did not allow the initiative and referendum process, so all ballot measures needed to be referred by the legislature. The 2018 state legislative session ran from January 10, 2018, through March 10, 2018, during which time the legislature had the power to place legislatively referred constitutional amendments on the ballot. Legislatively referred amendments can be proposed by either house of the legislature and must be approved by a simple majority of members of both houses during two consecutive legislative sessions. Once on the ballot, amendments must be approved by a simple majority of electors to be enacted.

Historical facts

See also: List of Virginia ballot measures

• A total of 29 measures appeared on statewide ballots between 1995 and 2016.
• From 1995 to 2016, an average of three measures appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years in Virginia.
• The number of measures appearing on even-year statewide ballots between 1995 and 2016 ranged from zero to five.
• Between 1995 and 2016, 86.21 percent (25 of 29) of statewide ballots were approved by voters, and 13.79 percent (4 of 29) were defeated.

Summary of campaign contributions

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2018

The following chart illustrates how much support and opposition committees had amassed in campaign contributions for each measure on the ballot:

Ballot Measure:	Support contributions:	Opposition contributions:	Outcome:
Virginia Question 1	$0.00	$0.00	a
Virginia Question 2	$0.00	$0.00	a

Not on the ballot

See also: Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot

The list below contains measures that were proposed and reached a certain stage in the initiative or referral process, but did not make the ballot.

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Legislative Review of Administrative Rules Amendment	Legislature	Allows the legislature to review and reject administrative rules and regulations
LRCA	Legislative Suspension of Administrative Rules Amendment	Legislature	Allows the legislature to suspend and nullify administrative rules and regulations
LRCA	Transportation Revenue Lockbox Amendment	Budget	Creates a lockbox for transportation funds

Effect of 2017 House elections

See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2017

Since Virginia is one of 12 states in which legislative approval of proposed constitutional amendments is required in two successive sessions before going to the ballot, legislative elections in Virginia can determine the fate of legislatively referred constitutional amendments that are part way through the process. Elections for the office of Virginia House of Delegates took place in 2017. All 100 house seats were up for election. The general election took place on November 7, 2017. Going into the election, Republicans controlled the state House by a 66-34 majority. In 2017, the state Senate was also controlled by Republicans 21-19 and remained so going into 2018. It was with this Republican control of the legislature that the potential proposed constitutional amendments listed above were approved. The results of the 2017 House of Delegates election and details about the impact of the election on two potential 2018 constitutional amendments are below:

Virginia House of Delegates
Party		Before November 7, 2017	After November 7, 2017
	Democratic Party	34	49
	Republican Party	66	51
Total		100	100

During the 2017 session of the Virginia General Assembly, legislators approved two constitutional amendments designed to empower the legislature to review and reject state administrative rules. The amendments, known as Senate Joint Resolution 295 (SJR 295) and House Joint Resolution 545 (HJR 545), faced opposition from all but one legislative Democrat. Most Republicans voted to approve the amendments, although 15 percent rejected SJR 295 and 20 percent rejected HJR 545. Due to Republicans’ 66-member majority in the state House, the party could afford to lose some votes to the opposition and still pass the amendments.

In Virginia, the state legislature needs to approve constitutional amendments over the course of two legislative sessions to get the amendments placed on the ballot for voter consideration. A simple majority vote is required in each legislative chamber in each session. Both SJR 295 and HJR 545 would have appeared on the ballot at the election on November 6, 2018, if the legislature had approved them again in 2018.

The two constitutional amendments were proposed in November 2016, just days after the general election, at a time when Democrats held the executive offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state in Virginia. Republicans controlled both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. Following the 2017 election, Democrats retained control of the executive offices.

Sen. Jill Vogel (R-27) was the lead sponsor of SJR 295. Vogel was the GOP’s nominee for lieutenant governor in 2017, but lost the election to Democrat Justin Fairfax. SJR 295 would have empowered the legislature to “review any administrative rule to ensure it is consistent with the legislative intent of the statute that the rule was written to interpret, prescribe, implement, or enforce” and to approve or reject the administrative rule. Ten House Republicans voted against SJR 295.

Rep. Chris Head (R-17) was the lead sponsor of HJR 545. He won re-election in 2017. HJR 545 would have authorized the state legislature to suspend or nullify administrative rules and regulations by a simple majority vote of each legislative chamber. The measure would have also empowered the legislature to establish a committee or commission to suspend administrative rules until the end of the next regular session while the legislature was not in a regular session. Thirteen House Republicans voted against HJR 545.

If Republicans had lost control of the state House of Delegates, the 2017 legislative session votes indicated that the proposals to empower the legislature to suspend or reject administrative rules would have had a difficult time surviving committee and floor votes. As Republicans retained 51 of the chamber’s 100 seats, the amendments' survival would have required that the party’s representatives be able to convince their five colleagues who voted against both proposals and were re-elected in 2017—Reps. Campbell, Edmunds, Garrett, Jones, and Ware—to vote for at least one of them in 2018. Ultimately, the amendments were not put on the ballot.

Amendment	2017 vote		2017 House control	2018 vote		2018 House control	Status
Click link for details	Senate	House	Republican	Senate	House	Republican
SJR 295	21-19	53-42	66-34	---	---	51-49	Not on the ballot
HJR 545	21-19	52-46	66-34	---	---	51-49	Not on the ballot

See also

• 2018 ballot measures
• List of Virginia ballot measures
• Virginia Legislature