---
type: "Bill"
title: "Real Estate Board; regulations related to fees charged to a licensee."
description: "Real Estate Board; regulations related to fees charged to a licensee. Prohibits the Real Estate Board from charging a fee to a real estate licensee for the transfer of such licensee between offices within a licensed real estate firm, including from such firm's primary place of business to one of its branch offices or from a branch office to another branch office under the same primary place of business. This bill is identical to SB 785."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 1653"
citation: "Virginia HB 1653 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Joshua E. Thomas"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2025-01-03"
last_action: "2025-03-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6e7ed75b-a4dd-44b1-9bea-be465b499e9b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1653"
source_hash: "daf6207e281050d4736ed26cd169bb29cc46e7aed525ce7b762947a27ec0a6c3"
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 1653 (2025) — Real Estate Board; regulations related to fees charged to a licensee.

Real Estate Board; regulations related to fees charged to a licensee. Prohibits the Real Estate Board from charging a fee to a real estate licensee for the transfer of such licensee between offices within a licensed real estate firm, including from such firm's primary place of business to one of its branch offices or from a branch office to another branch office under the same primary place of business. This bill is identical to SB 785.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1012457.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1071326.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1049944.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Joshua E. Thomas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25103498D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-03** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-13** Assigned GL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-16** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2025-01-21** Reported from General Laws (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-01-23** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1653)
- **2025-01-24** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-01-27** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2025-01-28** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-05** Reported from General Laws and Technology and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-11** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-11** Rules suspended
- **2025-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-11** Passed by for the day
- **2025-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-12** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-02-17** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-02-17** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1653ER) `passage`
- **2025-02-17** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-18** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1653)
- **2025-02-20** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-03** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 3, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-19** Approved by Governor-Chapter 122 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-19** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0122)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6e7ed75b-a4dd-44b1-9bea-be465b499e9b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).