---
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: "SB 1229"
citation: "Virginia SB 1229 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Motor Vehicles"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Siobhan S. Dunnavant"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 21
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/610e2f8f-b496-462e-b2ac-896d94504bf1"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1229"
source_hash: "44b37b71ac1adc133adaf413a163e8910b8f8ca037d16efb4fe1248a8969fe39"
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 SB 1229 (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 (CHAP0279)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0279)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1229ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1229ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101110D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1229)
4. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17101110D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1229E)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- House amendment agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Transportation with amendment — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with amendment BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Transportation with amendment — **22–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Siobhan S. Dunnavant — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101110D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-06** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1229E
- **2017-02-06** Printed as engrossed 17101110D-E
- **2017-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-13** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2017-02-13** Passed House with amendment BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-03** Approved by Governor-Chapter 279 (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/610e2f8f-b496-462e-b2ac-896d94504bf1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).