republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-971.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "College student-athletes; biometric data, protections and limitations."
description: "College student-athletes; biometric data; protections and limitations. Prohibits any private institution of higher education, associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education, or baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth from disclosing to any individual or entity outside of the institution any enrolled student-athlete's biometric data, as defined in the bill, without the prior written consent of the student-athlete. The bill also prohibits any individual or entity from making the possession, use, or ownership of or the rights to any student-athlete's biometric data a condition of any contract with the student-athlete for the use of the student-athlete's name, image, or likeness without the prior written consent of the student-athlete in a writing that is separate and apart from such contract."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 971"
citation: "Virginia HB 971 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marcia S. \"Cia\" Price"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ef34b930-5e98-4bdf-a8de-d0c60f53c032"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB971"
source_hash: "dfe0c893d05802718a81aff595899a6854f1f1c5afcf88009f6bc2175ec8bc69"
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 971 (2026) — College student-athletes; biometric data, protections and limitations.

College student-athletes; biometric data; protections and limitations. Prohibits any private institution of higher education, associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education, or baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth from disclosing to any individual or entity outside of the institution any enrolled student-athlete's biometric data, as defined in the bill, without the prior written consent of the student-athlete. The bill also prohibits any individual or entity from making the possession, use, or ownership of or the rights to any student-athlete's biometric data a condition of any contract with the student-athlete for the use of the student-athlete's name, image, or likeness without the prior written consent of the student-athlete in a writing that is separate and apart from such contract.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1086730.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217182.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1208902.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **92–3** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **6–3** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education — **19–1** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — primary (person)
- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker — cosponsor (person)
- Israel D. O'Quinn — cosponsor (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Rae Cousins — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103119D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** Assigned HED sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-09** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 3-N)
- **2026-02-09** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB971)
- **2026-02-11** Reported from Education (19-Y 1-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-16** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-17** Read third time and passed House (93-Y 3-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-18** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-02** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-06** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-06** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-06** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-09** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-14** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB971ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-16** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB971)
- **2026-03-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 25, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 247 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0247)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ef34b930-5e98-4bdf-a8de-d0c60f53c032`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).