                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

APPEAL OF PENALTIES (§ 24.2-953.6)

A. Any person or committee shall have the right to appeal a civil penalty
assessed to it pursuant to this chapter by filing a petition of appeal with the
State Board, on a form prescribed by the State Board, within the 60 days
following its actual receipt of written notice of such penalty. The petition
shall state the grounds upon which the appeal is being made in addition to any
additional information required by the State Board.

B. The appeal shall be adjudicated by the State Board in a public hearing. The
State Board shall develop procedures for the conduct of such hearing. At least
10 days prior to such hearing, the State Board shall send notice by certified
mail to any person whose petitions of appeal will be reviewed at such hearing.
Notice shall include the time, date, and place of the hearing.
			Consideration on appeal shall be limited to whether the petition and any
supporting documents submitted by the petitioner establish (i) facts of
circumstances present within a reasonable amount of time of the filing deadline
that made filing or requesting an extension impracticable or (ii) an
administrative error in the assessment of the penalty.

C. The State Board shall be authorized to provide relief for good cause shown by
the petitioner and found by the Board sufficient to justify the relief
requested. Such relief may include forgiveness of all or a portion of an
assessed civil penalty, the retroactive extension of a deadline, or other
appropriate remedy. Such relief shall not include an exemption from filing a
report that is otherwise required to be filed pursuant to this chapter.

D. For each appeal that it hears, the State Board shall issue a written opinion,
which shall include the facts put before the State Board, the State
Board&#8217;s decision, and the State Board&#8217;s rationale for reaching such
decision. The State Board&#8217;s opinion shall be published on the Department
of Elections website and a copy of the opinion shall be mailed to the petitioner
as notice of the State Board&#8217;s decision not later than 21 days after the
conclusion of the appeal hearing. The decision on appeal shall be final and not
subject to further appeal.

E. The time for notifying an attorney for the Commonwealth of a violation of
this chapter pursuant to subsection F of &#xA7; 24.2-946.3 shall be tolled from
the time the State Board receives a petition of appeal until notification to the
petitioner by the State Board of its decision on such petition.

HISTORY: 2025, c. 360.