---
type: "Bill"
title: "Restaurants; certified food protection manager, exemption of certain establishments."
description: "Provides that no regulation issued by the Board of Health (Board) shall require any restaurant that is operated by (i) a nonprofit civic service organization, (ii) a volunteer fire department, or (iii) a volunteer emergency medical services agency to employ a certified food protection manager. The bill defines a \"certified food protection manager\" as a person who has demonstrated proficiency in food safety issues, regulations, and techniques in maintaining a safe-food environment by passing a test and receiving a certification as part of a program that is accredited by the Board."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1663"
citation: "Virginia HB 1663 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Hotels", "Restaurants", "Summer Camps", "and Campgrounds"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James E. Edmunds, II"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2018-12-03"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9f283f71-c449-46bf-8af1-6f78fd3c4f45"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1663"
source_hash: "9b301c58ad14ef4ad5892fcbf9f8b9ab1000839131ca7902d18c51683fa8e00e"
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 1663 (2019) — Restaurants; certified food protection manager, exemption of certain establishments.

Provides that no regulation issued by the Board of Health (Board) shall require any restaurant that is operated by (i) a nonprofit civic service organization, (ii) a volunteer fire department, or (iii) a volunteer emergency medical services agency to employ a certified food protection manager. The bill defines a "certified food protection manager" as a person who has demonstrated proficiency in food safety issues, regulations, and techniques in maintaining a safe-food environment by passing a test and receiving a certification as part of a program that is accredited by the Board.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0275)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0275)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1663)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1663ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1663ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105081D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1663H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100361D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1663)

## Votes

- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- James E. Edmunds, II — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-12-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100361D `introduction`
- **2018-12-03** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-08** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-29** Committee substitute agreed to 19105081D-H1
- **2019-01-29** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1663H1
- **2019-01-30** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-30** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-01-30** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-31** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled
- **2019-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 21, 2019
- **2019-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 275 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9f283f71-c449-46bf-8af1-6f78fd3c4f45`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).