---
type: "Bill"
title: "Marine Resources Commission; registration as commercial fisherman."
description: "Directs the Marine Resources Commission to grant a preference for an exception to the two-year delay in the effective date of a registration as a commercial fisherman. The bill requires the preference to benefit a license applicant who is a member of the immediate family or is a documented employee of the commercial fisherman who is retiring."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1572"
citation: "Virginia HB 1572 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Commissions", "Boards and Institutions Generally", "Fisheries and Habitat of the Tidal Waters"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gordon C. Helsel, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-02"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0d17ae0c-a399-4a42-9816-1a0253484911"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1572"
source_hash: "1d8cc33d14437a59af1397bc8df2094593a7e6b9c1dccec3c4bc8ecf63dac7ab"
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 1572 (2017) — Marine Resources Commission; registration as commercial fisherman.

Directs the Marine Resources Commission to grant a preference for an exception to the two-year delay in the effective date of a registration as a commercial fisherman. The bill requires the preference to benefit a license applicant who is a member of the immediate family or is a documented employee of the commercial fisherman who is retiring.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0339)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0339)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1572ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1572ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100531D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1572)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **14–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Gordon C. Helsel, Jr. — primary (person)
- Robert S. Bloxom, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100531D `introduction`
- **2017-01-02** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-12** Assigned ACNR sub: Chesapeake `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-03** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-07** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-24** Enrolled
- **2017-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 339 (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/0d17ae0c-a399-4a42-9816-1a0253484911`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).