---
type: "Bill"
title: "Cats and dogs; authorizes local government to provide for lifetime licenses."
description: "Authorizes the governing body of a county or city to provide for a lifetime dog or cat license. The bill also removes the minimum annual tax for a dog or cat, sets the maximum tax for a lifetime license at $50, and limits the fee for a duplicate dog or cat tag to $1. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 856"
citation: "Virginia SB 856 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Animal Care and Food", "Counties", "Cities and Towns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emmett W. Hanger, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 23
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2016-12-04"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ec655927-b36c-460a-b3b2-2698cb65dd63"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB856"
source_hash: "1ad30f008a8c24d2dd918c71a3f5c7b9a52cef3c325db02c039ef140f5bfd827"
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 856 (2017) — Cats and dogs; authorizes local government to provide for lifetime licenses.

Authorizes the governing body of a county or city to provide for a lifetime dog or cat license. The bill also removes the minimum annual tax for a dog or cat, sets the maximum tax for a lifetime license at $50, and limits the fee for a duplicate dog or cat tag to $1. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0567)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0567)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB856ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB856ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101869D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB856)

## Votes

- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **92–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendments — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate acceded to request — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- House amendments rejected by Senate — **0–40** (fail) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. — primary (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Richard H. Black — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101869D `introduction`
- **2016-12-04** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-17** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-30** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-30** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-10** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-10** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2017-02-10** Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-15** House insisted on amendments
- **2017-02-15** House requested conference committee
- **2017-02-17** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-20** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-23** Amended by conference committee
- **2017-02-24** Conference report agreed to by House (92-Y 0-N 1-A)
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-16** Approved by Governor-Chapter 567 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ec655927-b36c-460a-b3b2-2698cb65dd63`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).