---
type: "Bill"
title: "Child care licensure; forfeiture of eligibility for religious exemption."
description: "Child care licensure; forfeiture of eligibility for religious exemption."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 545"
citation: "Virginia HB 545 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Religious and Charitable Matters; Cemeteries", "Welfare (Social Services)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nicholas J. Freitas"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2018-01-08"
last_action: "2018-02-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3d271b5a-13ef-4427-8704-b860ef198fd8"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB545"
source_hash: "c24267e2583c27b0f70c6dd4bf5ed7d814bd415d60525d822f3bed98bc2697a9"
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 545 (2018) — Child care licensure; forfeiture of eligibility for religious exemption.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0006)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+CHAP0006)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB545ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB545ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18101054D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB545)

## Votes

- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **6–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Nicholas J. Freitas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18101054D `introduction`
- **2018-01-08** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-17** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-25** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2018-01-29** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-01-30** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-01-30** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-06** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-07** Enrolled
- **2018-02-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-09** Signed by President
- **2018-02-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 02/12/18
- **2018-02-12** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 19, 2018
- **2018-02-19** Approved by Governor-Chapter 6 (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/3d271b5a-13ef-4427-8704-b860ef198fd8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).