republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1527.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: "SB 1527"
citation: "Virginia SB 1527 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard L. Saslaw"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 21
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-20"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f84f0b4c-cc84-437c-82bf-1b378bcf9020"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1527"
source_hash: "34062baec3b9c0c8b522f70a9ab145d68efd3f0415e6ff5f4f21b668bf35fe09"
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 SB 1527 (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 (CHAP0335)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0335)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105424D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1527H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1527ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1527ER)
4. **Senate: Presented and ordered printed 17103881D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1527)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Finance — **16–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- House substitute agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Richard L. Saslaw — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-20** Presented and ordered printed 17103881D `introduction`
- **2017-01-20** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-26** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Assigned App. sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-15** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-16** Committee substitute agreed to 17105424D-H1
- **2017-02-16** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1527H1
- **2017-02-16** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-20** Title replaced 17105424D-H1
- **2017-02-22** Enrolled
- **2017-02-22** Signed by President
- **2017-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-23** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/23/17
- **2017-02-23** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 335 (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/f84f0b4c-cc84-437c-82bf-1b378bcf9020`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).