---
type: "Bill"
title: "High school graduation; standard diploma requirements, etc."
description: "High school graduation requirements; requiredcourses or credentials; dual enrollment. Permits high schoolstudents to fulfill a certain high school graduation course creditrequirement by completing a dual enrollment course in lieu of thecurrently required Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate,or honors course or Board of Education-approved career and technicaleducation credential."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 516"
citation: "Virginia HB 516 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David L. Bulova"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-04"
last_action: "2020-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/521a091d-8468-4dce-b0ae-2f282fe441b5"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB516"
source_hash: "818ff9e650035d49b257825c106b638e20db4d491da25ac696569889a78eed71"
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 HB 516 (2020) — High school graduation; standard diploma requirements, etc.

High school graduation requirements; requiredcourses or credentials; dual enrollment. Permits high schoolstudents to fulfill a certain high school graduation course creditrequirement by completing a dual enrollment course in lieu of thecurrently required Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate,or honors course or Board of Education-approved career and technicaleducation credential.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0055)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0055)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB516ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB516ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB516H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB516H1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB516)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB516)

## Votes

- VOTE: (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education with substitute (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David L. Bulova — primary (person)
- Dave A. LaRock — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph P. McNamara — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Robert D. Orrock, Sr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103062D `introduction`
- **2020-01-04** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Assigned Education sub: SOL and SOQ `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Impact statement from DPB (HB516)
- **2020-01-20** Reported from Education with substitute (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-20** Committee substitute printed 20106138D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-20** Incorporates HB112 (McNamara)
- **2020-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-23** Committee substitute agreed to 20106138D-H1
- **2020-01-23** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB516H1
- **2020-01-24** Impact statement from DPB (HB516H1)
- **2020-01-24** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-24** VOTE: (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-01-27** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Enrolled
- **2020-02-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB516ER)
- **2020-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-20** Signed by President
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 24, 2020
- **2020-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 2, 2020
- **2020-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 55 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/521a091d-8468-4dce-b0ae-2f282fe441b5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).