---
type: "Bill"
title: "Land preservation tax credit; per taxpayer limitation."
description: "Land preservation tax credit; per taxpayer limitation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 963"
citation: "Virginia SB 963 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Conservation", "Taxation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emmett W. Hanger, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-03"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7a39944f-17c5-4ab6-83d0-5612ac93b3e9"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB963"
source_hash: "2ddc054625d7e547b4173ae4ebd7660a45c63116f007cd9917fae130c048a879"
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 963 (2017) — Land preservation tax credit; per taxpayer limitation.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0424)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0424)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB963ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB963ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101770D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB963)

## Votes

- Reported from Finance — **16–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance — **16–6** (pass) · legislature
- VOTE: PASSAGE — **86–12** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **4–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101770D `introduction`
- **2017-01-03** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-09** Assigned Finance sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-15** Passed House (86-y 12-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled
- **2017-02-17** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-20** 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
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 424 (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/7a39944f-17c5-4ab6-83d0-5612ac93b3e9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).