---
type: "Bill"
title: "Technical professional licenses; military science endorsement."
description: "State Board of Education; technical professional licenses; military science endorsement. Directs the State Board of Education to amend its regulations to require that persons seeking a technical professional license with an endorsement to teach military science have either the appropriate credentials issued by the United States military or a recommendation from a Virginia employing educational agency. This bill is identical to HB 1568."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 978"
citation: "Virginia SB 978 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John S. Edwards"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-15"
last_action: "2020-03-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/08896d37-d5c7-4484-8c16-29c0f685fb2f"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB978"
source_hash: "78d210dbe7187e56ad43f72f78b6e298cf83472573560151a995e120fedf11a4"
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 978 (2020) — Technical professional licenses; military science endorsement.

State Board of Education; technical professional licenses; military science endorsement. Directs the State Board of Education to amend its regulations to require that persons seeking a technical professional license with an endorsement to teach military science have either the appropriate credentials issued by the United States military or a recommendation from a Virginia employing educational agency. This bill is identical to HB 1568.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0109)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0109)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB978ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB978ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB978)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB978)

## Votes

- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John S. Edwards — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-15** Presented and ordered printed 20104761D `introduction`
- **2020-01-15** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Impact statement from DPB (SB978)
- **2020-01-27** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-06** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Reported from Education (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-20** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-20** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled
- **2020-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-25** Signed by President
- **2020-02-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB978ER)
- **2020-02-28** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 28, 2020
- **2020-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 6, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Approved by Governor-Chapter 109 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/08896d37-d5c7-4484-8c16-29c0f685fb2f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).