---
type: "Bill"
title: "Higher educational institutions, public; SCHEV to develop a passport credit program."
description: "Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (the Council) and each public institution of higher education to develop a passport credit program that will be offered at each associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education. Under the program, each passport credit course shall satisfy a lower division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education. The bill requires the Council to develop such program by July 1, 2020, and each associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education to offer such program by the 2020-2021 academic year."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1234"
citation: "Virginia SB 1234 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Siobhan S. Dunnavant"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 31
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5e864190-ed97-4fc9-8173-0ee070762b1a"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1234"
source_hash: "7424aaf34cdcdfb455baa07c7091c288ce5269e5c10a08e3402961072a682e15"
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 1234 (2017) — Higher educational institutions, public; SCHEV to develop a passport credit program.

Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (the Council) and each public institution of higher education to develop a passport credit program that will be offered at each associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education. Under the program, each passport credit course shall satisfy a lower division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education. The bill requires the Council to develop such program by July 1, 2020, and each associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education to offer such program by the 2020-2021 academic year.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0521)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0521)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105429D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1234H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1234ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1234ER)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105129D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1234S1)
5. **Senate: Floor substitute printed 17105239D-S2 (Dunnavant)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1234S2)
6. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102436D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1234)
7. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17105239D-ES2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1234ES2)

## Votes

- House substitute agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute — **100–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–1** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education with substitute — **20–2** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Passed by for the day agreed to — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Engrossment reconsidered by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Siobhan S. Dunnavant — primary (person)
- David R. Suetterlein — cosponsor (person)
- Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Scott A. Surovell (incorporated chief co-patron) — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102436D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-30** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Incorporates SB1346 (Surovell)
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute rejected 17105129D-S1
- **2017-02-06** Floor substitute printed 17105239D-S2 (Dunnavant)
- **2017-02-06** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-06** Substitute by Senator Dunnavant agreed to 17105239D-S2
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB1234S2
- **2017-02-06** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-06** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-06** Amendment by Senator Surovell agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute with amendment SB1234ES2
- **2017-02-06** Printed as engrossed 17105239D-ES2
- **2017-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-22** Committee substitute agreed to 17105429D-H1
- **2017-02-22** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1234H1
- **2017-02-22** Passed House with substitute (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-23** Title replaced 17105429D-H1
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 521 (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/5e864190-ed97-4fc9-8173-0ee070762b1a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).