republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-271.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Higher educational institutions, public; public-private partnerships, wind and solar power."
description: "Public institutions of higher education; public-private partnerships; wind and solar power. Permits each public institutionof higher education to enter into a public-private partnership withany private entity whereby such entity is permitted to use at nocost property owned or controlled by such public institution of highereducation for the generation of wind or solar power in exchange foroffering educational immersion programs for high school studentsand students at public institutions of higher education that providehands-on education and training in the construction, operations, and maintenance of its wind or solar power generators. The bill requiresany energy produced by such solar or wind power generators to be(i) used to provide power for the partner public institution of highereducation or (ii) introduced to applicable power grids and sold atmarket rates, with profits split as agreed upon by the private entityand the partner public institution of higher education. The billrequires any such profits gained by the partner public institutionof higher education to be used to further research, expand cleanenergy education programs, or lower student tuition rates."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 271"
citation: "Virginia SB 271 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John J. Bell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-03"
last_action: "2020-04-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b689cf61-91ae-4c08-86bf-7d02ce7f37d3"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB271"
source_hash: "d0470e629c0a333f96760f37200d650eaa9612709ec32e48911de4233e69e5dd"
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 271 (2020) — Higher educational institutions, public; public-private partnerships, wind and solar power.

Public institutions of higher education; public-private partnerships; wind and solar power. Permits each public institutionof higher education to enter into a public-private partnership withany private entity whereby such entity is permitted to use at nocost property owned or controlled by such public institution of highereducation for the generation of wind or solar power in exchange foroffering educational immersion programs for high school studentsand students at public institutions of higher education that providehands-on education and training in the construction, operations, and maintenance of its wind or solar power generators. The bill requiresany energy produced by such solar or wind power generators to be(i) used to provide power for the partner public institution of highereducation or (ii) introduced to applicable power grids and sold atmarket rates, with profits split as agreed upon by the private entityand the partner public institution of higher education. The billrequires any such profits gained by the partner public institutionof higher education to be used to further research, expand cleanenergy education programs, or lower student tuition rates.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0775)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0775)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB271ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB271ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB271)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB271)

## Votes

- Reported from Education (18-Y 2-N) — **18–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (94-Y 6-N) — **93–6** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John J. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102614D `introduction`
- **2020-01-03** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-06** Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Impact statement from DPB (SB271)
- **2020-02-10** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned Education sub: Post-Secondary and Higher Ed `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-19** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-19** Reported from Education (18-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Passed House (94-Y 6-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-24** VOTE: Passage (94-Y 6-N)
- **2020-02-27** Enrolled
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (SB271ER)
- **2020-03-10** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 10, 2020
- **2020-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-07** Approved by Governor-Chapter 775 (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/b689cf61-91ae-4c08-86bf-7d02ce7f37d3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).