republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-2427.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program; changes to Program, Commonwealth Award grants."
description: "Makes several changes to the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program, including adding requirements that (i) each student eligible for the Program receive a grant from the institution's appropriations for undergraduate student financial assistance before Commonwealth Award grants are awarded to students with equivalent remaining need, (ii) each eligible student receive a Program grant in an amount greater than Commonwealth Award grants awarded to students with equivalent remaining need, (iii) each eligible student receive a Program grant in an amount greater than the grant of each eligible student with equivalent remaining need in the next-lowest class level, and (iv) each Program grant be determined by a proportionate award schedule adopted by each institution and vary according to each student's remaining need and the total of tuition, fees, and other necessary charges, including books. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 2427"
citation: "Virginia HB 2427 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["M. Kirkland Cox"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-19"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0fde408f-30dc-4dec-98c8-17d085594d6f"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2427"
source_hash: "858204c86b5ed74604ae70b8a2c0104c346b97ddcd95f3629df68a8d90171eb1"
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 2427 (2017) — Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program; changes to Program, Commonwealth Award grants.

Makes several changes to the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program, including adding requirements that (i) each student eligible for the Program receive a grant from the institution's appropriations for undergraduate student financial assistance before Commonwealth Award grants are awarded to students with equivalent remaining need, (ii) each eligible student receive a Program grant in an amount greater than Commonwealth Award grants awarded to students with equivalent remaining need, (iii) each eligible student receive a Program grant in an amount greater than the grant of each eligible student with equivalent remaining need in the next-lowest class level, and (iv) each Program grant be determined by a proportionate award schedule adopted by each institution and vary according to each student's remaining need and the total of tuition, fees, and other necessary charges, including books. 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 (CHAP0325)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0325)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2427ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2427ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104960D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2427H1)
4. **House: Presented and ordered printed 17104206D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2427)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance — **16–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations with substitute — **20–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- M. Kirkland Cox — primary (person)
- J. Randall Minchew — cosponsor (person)
- John M. O'Bannon, III — cosponsor (person)
- R. Steven Landes — cosponsor (person)
- Richard L. Anderson — cosponsor (person)
- Todd E. Pillion — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 17104206D `introduction`
- **2017-01-19** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-20** Assigned App. sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 17104960D-H1
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2427H1
- **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 Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 325 (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/0fde408f-30dc-4dec-98c8-17d085594d6f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).