---
type: "Bill"
title: "Cats; prohibition on declawing."
description: "Declawing cats; prohibition; civil penalty.Makes unlawful the practice of declawing cats except as necessaryfor a therapeutic purpose, as defined in the bill, and creates acivil penalty of $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the secondviolation, and $2,500 for the third or any subsequent violation. The bill also entitles any animal control officer, humane investigator,or state or local law-enforcement officer to bring a civil actionfor a violation of this section."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 1354"
citation: "Virginia HB 1354 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Marty Martinez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 43
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2024-01-12"
last_action: "2024-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/938217b5-4ed4-4b01-853a-8fb13da59685"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB1354"
source_hash: "24b6f3603b13d20d80e1f398ce6c4a3ea6ce9f98adb2b4c8bb03bdc8fcc40cf0"
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 1354 (2024) — Cats; prohibition on declawing.

Declawing cats; prohibition; civil penalty.Makes unlawful the practice of declawing cats except as necessaryfor a therapeutic purpose, as defined in the bill, and creates acivil penalty of $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the secondviolation, and $2,500 for the third or any subsequent violation. The bill also entitles any animal control officer, humane investigator,or state or local law-enforcement officer to bring a civil actionfor a violation of this section.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0748** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0748)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24106640D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB1354H1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 24108149D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB1354S1)
4. **HB1354ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB1354ER)
5. **Presented and ordered printed 24104582D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB1354)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 2-N) — **8–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (52-Y 44-N) — **51–44** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitute (12-Y 2-N) — **12–2** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 41-N) — **57–41** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with substitute (25-Y 13-N 1-A) — **25–13** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (13-Y 9-N) — **13–9** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage #2 (54-Y 44-N) — **53–44** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Marty Martinez — primary (person)
- Danica A. Roem — cosponsor (person)
- Holly M. Seibold — cosponsor (person)
- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer B. Boysko — cosponsor (person)
- Russet Perry — cosponsor (person)
- Suhas Subramanyam — cosponsor (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-12** Presented and ordered printed 24104582D `introduction`
- **2024-01-12** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB1354)
- **2024-01-26** Assigned ACNR sub: Agriculture `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-31** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-01-31** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 2-N) `substitution`
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (13-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-07** Committee substitute printed 24106640D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB1354H1)
- **2024-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-12** Committee substitute agreed to 24106640D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-12** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1354H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-13** Read third time and passed House (52-Y 44-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-13** VOTE: Passage (52-Y 44-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-13** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2024-02-13** Passed House (54-Y 44-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-13** VOTE: Passage #2 (54-Y 44-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2024-02-14** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-19** Assigned ACNR sub: Companion Animals `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-27** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitute (12-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-27** Committee substitute printed 24108149D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-29** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2024-03-01** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-01** Passed by for the day
- **2024-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-04** Reading of substitute waived
- **2024-03-04** Committee substitute agreed to 24108149D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-03-04** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1354S1 `substitution`
- **2024-03-04** Passed Senate with substitute (25-Y 13-N 1-A) `passage`
- **2024-03-05** Senate substitute agreed to by House 24108149D-S1 (58-Y 41-N) `substitution`
- **2024-03-05** VOTE: Adoption (58-Y 41-N)
- **2024-03-06** Impact statement from DPB (HB1354S1)
- **2024-03-25** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-25** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1354ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-25** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-26** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-27** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 27, 2024 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-27** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB1354ER)
- **2024-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 748 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0748)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/938217b5-4ed4-4b01-853a-8fb13da59685`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).