---
type: "Bill"
title: "Higher educational institutions, public; in-state tuition, refugees."
description: "Public institutions of higher education; in-state tuition; refugees and individuals with certain Special Immigrant Visas. Provides that an individual is eligible for in-state tuition charges regardless of domicile if he is admitted to the United States as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157 within the previous two calendar years or received a Special Immigrant Visa that has been granted a status under P.L. 110-181 § 1244, P.L. 109-163 § 1059, or P.L. 111-8 § 602 within the previous two calendar years, and upon entering the United States, the individual resided in the Commonwealth and continues to reside in the Commonwealth as a refugee or pursuant to such Special Immigrant Visa."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1179"
citation: "Virginia HB 1179 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kathy K.L. Tran"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 32
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5221fa57-cde4-4d1a-b834-3d2aa55b3f87"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1179"
source_hash: "ae95c85b763ad82874e9b184d7d5dd87f3c3aed11dca84b161acd8ec99a52068"
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 1179 (2020) — Higher educational institutions, public; in-state tuition, refugees.

Public institutions of higher education; in-state tuition; refugees and individuals with certain Special Immigrant Visas. Provides that an individual is eligible for in-state tuition charges regardless of domicile if he is admitted to the United States as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157 within the previous two calendar years or received a Special Immigrant Visa that has been granted a status under P.L. 110-181 § 1244, P.L. 109-163 § 1059, or P.L. 111-8 § 602 within the previous two calendar years, and upon entering the United States, the individual resided in the Commonwealth and continues to reside in the Commonwealth as a refugee or pursuant to such Special Immigrant Visa.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0680)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0680)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1179ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1179ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1179H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1179H1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB1179)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1179)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (51-Y 48-N) — **50–48** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education with substitute (12-Y 9-N) — **12–9** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (11-Y 3-N 1-A) — **11–3** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations (12-Y 10-N) — **12–10** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (24-Y 16-N) — **24–16** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kathy K.L. Tran — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101908D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Assigned Education sub: Post-Secondary and Higher Ed `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-20** Impact statement from DPB (HB1179)
- **2020-02-03** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Education with substitute (12-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Committee substitute printed 20106232D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-05** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-05** Assigned App. sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-07** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
- **2020-02-07** Reported from Appropriations (12-Y 10-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 20106232D-H1
- **2020-02-10** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1179H1
- **2020-02-11** Read third time and passed House (51-Y 48-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-11** VOTE: Passage (51-Y 48-N)
- **2020-02-12** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-12** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-20** Reported from Education and Health (11-Y 3-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-21** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Passed Senate (24-Y 16-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-28** Enrolled
- **2020-02-28** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB1179ER)
- **2020-03-02** Signed by President
- **2020-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2020
- **2020-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 680 (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/5221fa57-cde4-4d1a-b834-3d2aa55b3f87`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).