---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bear hunting; youth resident license."
description: "Creates a junior bear hunting license, separate from the combined big game hunting and junior hunting licenses, for any resident under the age of 16. The fee for such license is $5.50."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 2255"
citation: "Virginia HB 2255 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Game", "Inland Fisheries and Boating", "Hunting Laws and Permits"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James E. Edmunds, II"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-11"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bec26790-fa8b-49bb-8aec-6786ec4dfd10"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2255"
source_hash: "468f6c338af5352e97ed207f2835d3d5764edffff0a666889f2d7b763365d05c"
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 2255 (2017) — Bear hunting; youth resident license.

Creates a junior bear hunting license, separate from the combined big game hunting and junior hunting licenses, for any resident under the age of 16. The fee for such license is $5.50.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0353)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0353)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2255ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2255ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105106D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2255H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102997D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2255)

## Votes

- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **13–1** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **39–1** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute — **18–3** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House — **82–16** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **86–12** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- James E. Edmunds, II — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102997D `introduction`
- **2017-01-11** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 17105106D-H1
- **2017-02-03** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2255H1
- **2017-02-06** Read third time and passed House (86-Y 12-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-06** Reconsideration of House passage agreed to by House
- **2017-02-06** Passed House (82-Y 16-N) `passage`
- **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 353 (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/bec26790-fa8b-49bb-8aec-6786ec4dfd10`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).