House Education Committee reports multiple Senate bills to further action; several votes recorded

The House Committee on Education on Monday moved a series of Senate bills through committee action, adopting conforming or technical substitutes in many cases and recording roll‑call tallies where noted on the transcript.

Committee business was largely procedural at the start of the meeting: clerks opened and closed the roll for multiple bills, substitutes were adopted for measures being made identical to corresponding House bills, and members cast votes to report or pass bills to the next stage.

Several measures were taken up by the Higher Education Subcommittee and reported back in committee with recommendations. The committee also conformed Senate Bill 11‑06 to House Bill 15‑95 and voted to report and refer that measure to Appropriations.

Votes at a glance (as recorded in the transcript):

- Senate Bill 8‑22: reported as substituted; recorded as "Bill passes 21 to 0." (conformed to HB 16‑26) - Senate Bill 8‑79: reported (identical to HB 20‑18); vote tally not specified in transcript - Senate Bill 9‑55: reported as substituted (conform to HB 2,777); vote tally not specified - Senate Bill 10‑36: technical substitute posted and adopted; vote tally not specified - Senate Bill 12‑30: amended and reported; recorded as "Bill passes 12 to 9." - Senate Bill 13‑68: reported (identical to HB 2,441); vote tally not specified - Senate Bill 13‑70: reported; recorded as "Bill passes 21 to 0." (identical to HB 2,543) - Senate Bill 13‑80: reported (identical to HB 26‑40); vote tally not specified - Senate Bill 13‑91: reported; recorded as "Bill reports 21 to 0." (identical to HB 2,645) - Senate Bill 14‑13: substituted to match HB 26‑18 and reported; recorded as "Bill reports with substitute 16 to 5." - Senate Bill 14‑62: amendment adopted to conform to House language; recorded as "Bill reports as amended 16 to 5."

Higher Education Subcommittee reports (as recorded):

- Senate Bill 7‑42 (conforms to HB 2,157): reported as amended; recorded as "Bill reports as amended 21 to 0." (creates Board of Visitors for Richard Bland College and transfers property) - Senate Bill 9‑53: reported 21 to 0 (common curriculum for practical nursing programs; conforms to HB) - Senate Bill 9‑61: reported 21 to 0 (reporting requirement related to military survivors program; conforms to HB 16‑94) - Senate Bill 10‑16: reported as substituted, establishes Hunger Free Campus food pantry grant program; recorded as "Bill reports 16 to 5." (conforms to HB 2,240) - Senate Bill 12‑29: reported 21 to 0 (waiver of mandatory fees for students in formal exchange programs) - Senate Bill 12‑59: reported 21 to 0 (changes related to VCU Health System Authority board/CEO)

Other committee action:

- Senate Bill 11‑06: conformed to HB 15‑95 and reported and referred to Appropriations; recorded as "Bill reports and refers 21 to 0." (changes to Virginia National Guard State Tuition Assistance Program)

What it means: many of the measures were conformance actions to make identical House and Senate versions of bills, technical substitutes were adopted for some bills, and a number of measures were reported with unanimous or near‑unanimous votes. Several items recorded roll‑call tallies in the transcript; for bills where the transcript records only that the "bill reports" without a tally, the committee clerk closed the roll but did not report a number on the record.

The committee also spent a substantial portion of the hearing on SB 13‑03 (diabetes management in schools), adopting a substitute and then passing that bill "by for the day" to allow members more time to review the substitute language before final action.