---
type: "Bill"
title: "Driver's license or learner's permit; issuance, minimum standards for vision tests."
description: "Increases the minimum visual acuity an applicant must possess for issuance of a driver's license or learner's permit from a field of 100 degrees of horizontal vision in one or both eyes to a field of 110 degrees of horizontal vision in one or both eyes. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1504"
citation: "Virginia HB 1504 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Motor Vehicles"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hyland F. \"Buddy\" Fowler, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-12-19"
last_action: "2017-02-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e3306943-76b1-4738-87d8-715db348f7e6"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1504"
source_hash: "4b9bf58805f5f863c2cf53b250e11a9f68bb9eccc5169a87a1b871e43f7e5260"
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 1504 (2017) — Driver's license or learner's permit; issuance, minimum standards for vision tests.

Increases the minimum visual acuity an applicant must possess for issuance of a driver's license or learner's permit from a field of 100 degrees of horizontal vision in one or both eyes to a field of 110 degrees of horizontal vision in one or both eyes. 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 (CHAP0121)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0121)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1504ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1504ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103046D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1504)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17103046D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1504E)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **6–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Transportation — **12–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Transportation with amendment — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-19** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103046D `introduction`
- **2016-12-19** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Transportation sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-27** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-30** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-30** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-01-30** Engrossed by House as amended HB1504E
- **2017-01-30** Printed as engrossed 17103046D-E
- **2017-01-31** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-01** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-15** Enrolled
- **2017-02-15** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-17** Signed by President
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
- **2017-02-17** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
- **2017-02-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 121 (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/e3306943-76b1-4738-87d8-715db348f7e6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).