republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-897.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Higher educational institutions, public; governing boards, educational programs."
description: "Public institutions of higher education; governingboards; educational programs. Requires all members of governingboards of public institutions of higher education to participatein educational programs designed to address the role, duties, andresponsibilities of the governing boards at least once within thefirst two years of membership and at least once within every twoyears of membership thereafter. Under current law, new members arerequired to participate in such programs at least once during theirfirst two years of membership. The bill requires each public institutionof higher education to maintain on its website the names of all voting members of the governing board who successfully complete such educationalprograms, as certified by the State Council of Higher Education forVirginia."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 897"
citation: "Virginia SB 897 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill DeSteph"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 27
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-08"
last_action: "2020-03-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2e10d989-4bef-426d-8fe6-bbab52695fff"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB897"
source_hash: "ab01957be2b2244850266084fba6caa49003f906009d81a1e7d91ac3f6bb3ce3"
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 897 (2020) — Higher educational institutions, public; governing boards, educational programs.

Public institutions of higher education; governingboards; educational programs. Requires all members of governingboards of public institutions of higher education to participatein educational programs designed to address the role, duties, andresponsibilities of the governing boards at least once within thefirst two years of membership and at least once within every twoyears of membership thereafter. Under current law, new members arerequired to participate in such programs at least once during theirfirst two years of membership. The bill requires each public institutionof higher education to maintain on its website the names of all voting members of the governing board who successfully complete such educationalprograms, as certified by the State Council of Higher Education forVirginia.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0155)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0155)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB897ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB897ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB897S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB897S1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB897)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB897)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill DeSteph — primary (person)
- Amanda F. Chase — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103229D `introduction`
- **2020-01-08** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-21** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB897)
- **2020-01-30** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-30** Committee substitute printed 20106653D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-03** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 20106653D-S1
- **2020-02-03** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB897S1
- **2020-02-04** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-12** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-12** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-12** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Education (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-20** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-20** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled
- **2020-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB897ER)
- **2020-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-25** Signed by President
- **2020-02-28** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 28, 2020
- **2020-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 6, 2020
- **2020-03-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 155 (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/2e10d989-4bef-426d-8fe6-bbab52695fff`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).