---
type: "Bill"
title: "Mortuary science education; practical experience required."
description: "Requires every public institution of higher education that offers a degree in mortuary science to require students to complete practical experience in the areas of funeral service and embalming prior to graduation from such program. The bill also provides that a person who is duly enrolled in a mortuary education program may assist in embalming while under the supervision of a funeral service licensee or embalmer with an active, unrestricted license issued by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, provided that such embalming occurs in a funeral service establishment licensed by the Board and in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Board."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 143"
citation: "Virginia SB 143 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lionell Spruill, Sr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-12-27"
last_action: "2018-03-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4e895d70-0a0f-44c0-8bf0-79c93513944b"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+SB143"
source_hash: "0831a48ac14d10c086562135309eaee9f055cff1f7ab71d4265628510cac0357"
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 143 (2018) — Mortuary science education; practical experience required.

Requires every public institution of higher education that offers a degree in mortuary science to require students to complete practical experience in the areas of funeral service and embalming prior to graduation from such program. The bill also provides that a person who is duly enrolled in a mortuary education program may assist in embalming while under the supervision of a funeral service licensee or embalmer with an active, unrestricted license issued by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, provided that such embalming occurs in a funeral service establishment licensed by the Board and in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Board.

## Version chain

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

1. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB143ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB143ER)
2. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18101219D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB143)
3. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 18101219D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB143E)

## Votes

- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **100–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **35–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Rereferred from General Laws and Technology — **11–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Lionell Spruill, Sr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-12-27** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18101219D `introduction`
- **2017-12-27** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-15** Rereferred to Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-17** Assigned Education sub: Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-01-29** Reading of amendment waived
- **2018-01-29** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2018-01-29** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB143E
- **2018-01-29** Printed as engrossed 18101219D-E
- **2018-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-05** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-20** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **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
- **2018-03-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 186 (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/4e895d70-0a0f-44c0-8bf0-79c93513944b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).