---
type: "Bill"
title: "Appeal to Supreme Court; time frame for filing of petition."
description: "Expresses the time frame within which petitions for appeal from a final judgment of a trial court or the State Corporation Commission to the Supreme Court shall be filed, currently expressed in months, in an equivalent number of days. As introduced, the bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 946"
citation: "Virginia SB 946 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies and Procedure", "Commissions", "Boards and Institutions Generally", "Criminal Procedure", "State Corporation Commission"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark D. Obenshain"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-12-30"
last_action: "2017-03-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b12a6337-b211-41a0-b211-792036eac8d9"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB946"
source_hash: "4ad86f74f27798414cd0526e254e327928b55298b2dbcb2b1834b96df86ff372"
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 946 (2017) — Appeal to Supreme Court; time frame for filing of petition.

Expresses the time frame within which petitions for appeal from a final judgment of a trial court or the State Corporation Commission to the Supreme Court shall be filed, currently expressed in months, in an equivalent number of days. As introduced, the bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0651)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0651)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB946ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB946ER)
3. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17104522D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB946S1)
4. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101703D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB946)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **14–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **9–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **100–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Mark D. Obenshain — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-30** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101703D `introduction`
- **2016-12-30** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-30** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-30** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-01-30** Committee substitute agreed to 17104522D-S1
- **2017-01-30** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB946S1
- **2017-02-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-22** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **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
- **2017-03-20** Approved by Governor-Chapter 651 (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/b12a6337-b211-41a0-b211-792036eac8d9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).