---
type: "Bill"
title: "Lien priority."
description: "Inserts \"real estate\" in several places related to the priority of tax liens so that the operative language now reads \"on a parity with liens for unpaid local real estate taxes.\" This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 920"
citation: "Virginia SB 920 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Real Estate and Real Estate Tax", "Taxation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John S. Edwards"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-12-27"
last_action: "2017-02-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a66f0603-c78c-4b96-ba1c-0a335fd21199"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB920"
source_hash: "7aec09757c937930eba969f72370dc36c756a036dc5439b99dd30e47c49d97d8"
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 920 (2017) — Lien priority.

Inserts "real estate" in several places related to the priority of tax liens so that the operative language now reads "on a parity with liens for unpaid local real estate taxes." 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 (CHAP0118)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0118)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB920ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB920ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102716D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB920)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Rereferred from Courts of Justice — **11–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–1** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Local Government — **12–1** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- John S. Edwards — primary (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-27** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102716D `introduction`
- **2016-12-27** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Rereferred to Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-02** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-14** Enrolled
- **2017-02-14** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-15** Signed by President
- **2017-02-15** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/15/17
- **2017-02-15** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 22, 2017
- **2017-02-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 118 (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/a66f0603-c78c-4b96-ba1c-0a335fd21199`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).