---
type: "Bill"
title: "Rabies; quarantine of dog after possible exposure, police dogs."
description: "Requires a local health director, in determining whether to quarantine a dog that may have exposed a person to rabies through a bite, to weigh any proof that the dog has both a current rabies vaccination and a current certification of special training for police work, military work, or work as a first responder."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 359"
citation: "Virginia HB 359 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Animal Care and Food"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nick Rush"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2018-01-05"
last_action: "2018-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5695637b-9aa3-4248-baf9-e61df0a56463"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB359"
source_hash: "8ef6d7330389c7c57293d27d344a0d4c27c1d95372cc63804f68cfcbeaada23a"
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 359 (2018) — Rabies; quarantine of dog after possible exposure, police dogs.

Requires a local health director, in determining whether to quarantine a dog that may have exposed a person to rabies through a bite, to weigh any proof that the dog has both a current rabies vaccination and a current certification of special training for police work, military work, or work as a first responder.

## Version chain

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

1. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB359ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB359ER)
2. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18103364D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB359)

## Votes

- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **8–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Nick Rush — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18103364D `introduction`
- **2018-01-05** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-15** Assigned ACNRsub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-26** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-01-29** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2018-01-30** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-01-30** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2018-01-30** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2018-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-01-31** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-22** Enrolled
- **2018-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-23** Signed by President
- **2018-02-26** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 26, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 5, 2018
- **2018-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 93 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5695637b-9aa3-4248-baf9-e61df0a56463`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).