---
type: "Bill"
title: "Real Estate Board; licensees may assist in translation of real estate documents."
description: "Provides that if a party to a real estate transaction requests translation of a contract or other real estate document from the English language to another language, a real estate licensee may assist such party in obtaining a translator or may refer such party to an electronic translation service and that, in doing so, the licensee shall not be deemed to have breached any of his obligations as a real estate licensee or otherwise become liable for any inaccuracies in the translation. The bill provides that a licensee shall not charge a fee for such assistance or referral. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 439"
citation: "Virginia HB 439 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Commissions", "Boards and Institutions Generally", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David L. Bulova"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2018-01-06"
last_action: "2018-02-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ffa80c8c-7c7f-46aa-8fd1-18e8f9264efc"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB439"
source_hash: "af44e2dd2de5203b1a7006cd107523495b859c24afeff4e397ecd8950c388664"
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 439 (2018) — Real Estate Board; licensees may assist in translation of real estate documents.

Provides that if a party to a real estate transaction requests translation of a contract or other real estate document from the English language to another language, a real estate licensee may assist such party in obtaining a translator or may refer such party to an electronic translation service and that, in doing so, the licensee shall not be deemed to have breached any of his obligations as a real estate licensee or otherwise become liable for any inaccuracies in the translation. The bill provides that a licensee shall not charge a fee for such assistance or referral. 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 (CHAP0039)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+CHAP0039)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB439ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB439ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18104351D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB439)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 18104351D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB439E)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws with amendment — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **14–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **8–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- David L. Bulova — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18104351D `introduction`
- **2018-01-06** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-17** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-01** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-02** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2018-02-02** Engrossed by House as amended HB439E
- **2018-02-02** Printed as engrossed 18104351D-E
- **2018-02-05** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-02-06** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-19** Enrolled
- **2018-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-21** Signed by President
- **2018-02-22** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/22/18
- **2018-02-22** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 1, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 39 (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/ffa80c8c-7c7f-46aa-8fd1-18e8f9264efc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).