republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/sb-723.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind; Board of Visitors to report to the Governor."
description: "Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind; Board of Visitors to report to the Governor. Requires that the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind be subject to the direction and supervision of the Governor. The bill repeals the existing responsibility for the Board, currently designated as a policy agency in the executive branch of state government, by the Secretary of Education. The bill exempts the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind from the definition of \"executive branch agency\" with respect to the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. The bill directs the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind to consult with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to develop a plan to independently provide information technology support for the school and to submit such plan to the Board of Visitors of the school no later than October 1, 2022. The bill also contains a reenactment clause that applies to all provisions of the bill other than the development of the technology support plan."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 723"
citation: "Virginia SB 723 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John J. Bell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 34
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2022-01-21"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/840eaffe-4943-45ac-af62-9776b6318ef4"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB723"
source_hash: "0973a94a8bbd20f53992868bed4e649dbf4a22ba6af4682a76075fe566752ea2"
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 723 (2022) — Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind; Board of Visitors to report to the Governor.

Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind; Board of Visitors to report to the Governor. Requires that the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind be subject to the direction and supervision of the Governor. The bill repeals the existing responsibility for the Board, currently designated as a policy agency in the executive branch of state government, by the Secretary of Education. The bill exempts the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind from the definition of "executive branch agency" with respect to the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. The bill directs the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind to consult with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to develop a plan to independently provide information technology support for the school and to submit such plan to the Board of Visitors of the school no later than October 1, 2022. The bill also contains a reenactment clause that applies to all provisions of the bill other than the development of the technology support plan.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0389** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0389)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22107405D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB723H1)
3. **Presented and ordered printed 22103467D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB723)
4. **SB723ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB723ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Appropriations with substitute (20-Y 2-N) — **20–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (92-Y 7-N) — **91–7** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rules (16-Y 0-N) — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John J. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-21** Presented and ordered printed 22103467D `introduction`
- **2022-01-21** Referred to Committee on Rules `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-02** Impact statement from DPB (SB723)
- **2022-02-11** Reported from Rules (16-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-15** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-02-15** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-15** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-23** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-23** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-26** Assigned Education sub: K-12 `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-01** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-01** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2022-03-02** Reported from Education (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-02** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-04** Committee substitute printed 22107405D-H1 `substitution`
- **2022-03-04** Reported from Appropriations with substitute (20-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-08** Impact statement from DPB (SB723H1)
- **2022-03-08** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-09** Committee substitute agreed to 22107405D-H1
- **2022-03-09** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB723H1
- **2022-03-09** Passed House with substitute (92-Y 7-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-09** VOTE: Passage (92-Y 7-N)
- **2022-03-10** House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-10** Title replaced 22107405D-H1
- **2022-03-21** Enrolled
- **2022-03-21** Impact statement from DPB (SB723ER)
- **2022-03-21** Signed by President
- **2022-03-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 389 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/840eaffe-4943-45ac-af62-9776b6318ef4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).