---
type: "Bill"
title: "James River; designation portion a component of Scenic Rivers System."
description: "Extends the scenic river designation of a portion of the James River located in Botetourt and Rockbridge Counties from 14 miles to 59 miles. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1454"
citation: "Virginia HB 1454 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Conservation", "Counties", "Cities and Towns", "Waters of the State", "Ports and Harbors"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Terry L. Austin"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-12-05"
last_action: "2017-02-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02ebf447-52d0-4ff8-b9e7-29732a550419"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1454"
source_hash: "782f4cd1324f1abc3c845e3b44542ec5f5290d1776d4472a84294073c91382a6"
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 1454 (2017) — James River; designation portion a component of Scenic Rivers System.

Extends the scenic river designation of a portion of the James River located in Botetourt and Rockbridge Counties from 14 miles to 59 miles. 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 (CHAP0149)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0149)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1454ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1454ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100630D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1454)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105185D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1454S1)

## Votes

- Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105185D-S1 — **83–15** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **33–7** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **19–3** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **82–16** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite — **12–1** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Terry L. Austin — primary (person)
- Christopher T. Head — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100630D `introduction`
- **2016-12-05** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-19** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-20** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-24** Read third time and passed House (82-Y 16-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-25** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-25** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-07** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-08** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-09** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-09** Committee substitute agreed to 17105185D-S1
- **2017-02-09** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1454S1
- **2017-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-13** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-14** Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105185D-S1 (83-Y 15-N)
- **2017-02-16** Enrolled
- **2017-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-17** Signed by President
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
- **2017-02-17** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
- **2017-02-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 149 (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/02ebf447-52d0-4ff8-b9e7-29732a550419`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).