republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-2168.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Virginia Coal Train Heritage Authority; established.	Creates the Virginia Coal Train Heritage Authority (the Authority) with rights and powers to be exercised by a 25-member board, which will consist of three representatives from the governing body of each of the Counties of Dickenson, Russell, and Wise; two citizen members from each of those three counties; one citizen member from each of the Towns of Clinchco, Haysi, and St. Paul; three commissioners of the Breaks Interstate Park Commission; two citizen members with experience in the excursion train business; and two members of the General Assembly. The Authority's powers are similar to those that other authorities possess. The bill authorizes the Authority to cooperate with any private or governmental entity in the state of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or North Carolina in the development of a tourist train and exempts any train operator that has entered into a public-private partnership contract with the Authority from liability for personal injury or wrongful death except in the case of gross negligence or an intentional tort. Notice of such immunity must be posted at the time of ticketing and at all train entrances.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2017	HB 2168	Virginia HB 2168 (2017)	bill	Authorities Counties Cities and Towns Railroads	enacted	Todd E. Pillion	5	29	7	2017-01-11	2017-04-26	openstates	ocd-bill/fd5615b5-6c42-46a8-86d9-de506190c49c	http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2168	107de1fdd2b3d8d9f0c3042883c840f69f44ba8b3675f6e4cc67b44b66bf2b45	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 2168 (2017) — Virginia Coal Train Heritage Authority; established.

Creates the Virginia Coal Train Heritage Authority (the Authority) with rights and powers to be exercised by a 25-member board, which will consist of three representatives from the governing body of each of the Counties of Dickenson, Russell, and Wise; two citizen members from each of those three counties; one citizen member from each of the Towns of Clinchco, Haysi, and St. Paul; three commissioners of the Breaks Interstate Park Commission; two citizen members with experience in the excursion train business; and two members of the General Assembly. The Authority's powers are similar to those that other authorities possess. The bill authorizes the Authority to cooperate with any private or governmental entity in the state of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or North Carolina in the development of a tourist train and exempts any train operator that has entered into a public-private partnership contract with the Authority from liability for personal injury or wrongful death except in the case of gross negligence or an intentional tort. Notice of such immunity must be posted at the time of ticketing and at all train entrances.

Version chain

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

1. Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0834) (committee substitute) — source
2. House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2168ER) (committee substitute) — source
3. House: Governor's substitute printed 17105996D-H1 (committee substitute) — source
4. House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100382D (committee substitute) — source
5. House: Printed as engrossed 17100382D-E (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns with amendment — 21–0 (pass) · legislature
• Read third time and passed House — 96–1 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Local Government with amendment — 12–1 (pass) · legislature
• Subcommittee recommends reporting — 10–0 (pass) · legislature
• Passed Senate with amendment — 33–7 (pass) · legislature
• Constitutional reading dispensed — 39–0 (pass) · legislature
• Senate amendment agreed to by House — 86–5 (pass) · legislature

Sponsors

• Todd E. Pillion — primary (person)
• Israel D. O'Quinn — cosponsor (person)
• Terry G. Kilgore — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-01-11 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100382D introduction
• 2017-01-11 Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns referral-committee
• 2017-01-19 Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #1 referral-committee
• 2017-01-30 Read first time reading-1
• 2017-01-31 Read second time reading-2
• 2017-01-31 Committee amendment agreed to
• 2017-01-31 Engrossed by House as amended HB2168E
• 2017-01-31 Printed as engrossed 17100382D-E
• 2017-02-01 Read third time and passed House (96-Y 1-N) passage, reading-3
• 2017-02-02 Constitutional reading dispensed
• 2017-02-02 Referred to Committee on Local Government referral-committee
• 2017-02-17 Read third time reading-3
• 2017-02-17 Reading of amendment waived
• 2017-02-17 Committee amendment agreed to
• 2017-02-17 Engrossed by Senate as amended
• 2017-02-21 Placed on Calendar
• 2017-02-21 Senate amendment agreed to by House (86-Y 5-N)
• 2017-02-24 Enrolled
• 2017-02-24 Signed by Speaker
• 2017-02-24 Signed by President
• 2017-02-28 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
• 2017-02-28 Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
• 2017-03-24 Governor's recommendation received by House
• 2017-03-24 Governor's substitute printed 17105996D-H1
• 2017-04-05 Placed on Calendar
• 2017-04-05 Passed by for the day
• 2017-04-05 Communicated to Governor
• 2017-04-05 Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, May 5, 2017
• 2017-04-26 Approved by Governor-Chapter 834 (effective 7/1/17) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/fd5615b5-6c42-46a8-86d9-de506190c49c. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).