---
type: "Bill"
title: "Attorney discipline; procedures."
description: "Conforms the statutory procedures for disciplining attorneys to the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1479"
citation: "Virginia HB 1479 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James A. \"Jay\" Leftwich"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-12-13"
last_action: "2017-02-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b8628ff9-82d1-4d7e-a139-c4a77f2d7534"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1479"
source_hash: "977b59e034f228e4cdfce5d3507b39aaa90fd08fa48f8e2d186200bf6dcce592"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1479 (2017) — Attorney discipline; procedures.

Conforms the statutory procedures for disciplining attorneys to the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0040)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0040)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1479ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1479ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101076D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1479)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- James A. "Jay" Leftwich — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-12-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101076D `introduction`
- **2016-12-13** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-25** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-26** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-27** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-10** Enrolled
- **2017-02-10** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-13** Signed by President
- **2017-02-13** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/13/17
- **2017-02-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 20, 2017
- **2017-02-17** Approved by Governor-Chapter 40 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b8628ff9-82d1-4d7e-a139-c4a77f2d7534`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).