republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1555.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Agency directors; human resource training and agency succession planning."
description: "Directs the Department of Human Resource Management (the Department) to administer training programs to familiarize agency directors with state human resource policies, such as compensation management, benefits administration, and resources available at the Department. The bill requires (i) the Department to offer training programs at least twice per year, (ii) each agency director to attend a training program with the agency chief human resource officer within six months after the director's appointment and thereafter at least once every four years, (iii) the agency chief human resource officer to provide subsequent training on agency-specific human resource policies, and (iv) each agency director to develop and submit annually to the Department an agency succession plan for key personnel, executive positions, and employees nearing retirement. The bill also requires public institutions of higher education to prepare a succession plan for presentation to the board of visitors with a copy to the Department."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1555"
citation: "Virginia HB 1555 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Administration of Government", "Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["R. Lee Ware"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 26
vote_count: 13
first_action: "2016-12-29"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/caadb3ae-3051-47ca-a4de-8cca9e771962"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1555"
source_hash: "015eda733ad074a2dac3b9c64a7c8e60144a3c0f1eb8cc85618f203400b84c28"
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 1555 (2017) — Agency directors; human resource training and agency succession planning.

Directs the Department of Human Resource Management (the Department) to administer training programs to familiarize agency directors with state human resource policies, such as compensation management, benefits administration, and resources available at the Department. The bill requires (i) the Department to offer training programs at least twice per year, (ii) each agency director to attend a training program with the agency chief human resource officer within six months after the director's appointment and thereafter at least once every four years, (iii) the agency chief human resource officer to provide subsequent training on agency-specific human resource policies, and (iv) each agency director to develop and submit annually to the Department an agency succession plan for key personnel, executive positions, and employees nearing retirement. The bill also requires public institutions of higher education to prepare a succession plan for presentation to the board of visitors with a copy to the Department.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0527)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0527)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1555ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1555ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104801D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1555H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103358D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1555)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendment rejected by House — **0–100** (fail) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **5–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance with amendment — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate receded from amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations — **20–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- R. Lee Ware — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-29** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103358D `introduction`
- **2016-12-29** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-11** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #4 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-26** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2017-01-31** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-01** Assigned App. sub: Compensation and Retirement `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 17104801D-H1
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1555H1
- **2017-02-07** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-21** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-21** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-21** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2017-02-22** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-22** Senate amendment rejected by House (0-Y 100-N)
- **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
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 527 (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/caadb3ae-3051-47ca-a4de-8cca9e771962`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).