---
type: "Bill"
title: "Real estate appraisers; ed. requirements for licensure, fair housing and appraisal bias course."
description: "Real estate appraisers; educational requirements for licensure; fair housing and appraisal bias course. Requires, in addition to successfully completing an examination, applicants for licensure as a certified residential real estate appraiser or a certified general real estate appraiser to also successfully complete a fair housing and appraisal bias education course administered or approved by the Real Estate Appraiser Board prior to licensure, the specifics of which are provided in the bill."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 170"
citation: "Virginia HB 170 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alex Q. Askew"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 36
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2026-01-06"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/745926de-dcb4-4c96-825f-b542cd144da9"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB170"
source_hash: "2e3ef84869ced6baaf2e055f39533c84d24dcbcb92432db69302f1fcc739ce77"
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 170 (2026) — Real estate appraisers; ed. requirements for licensure, fair housing and appraisal bias course.

Real estate appraisers; educational requirements for licensure; fair housing and appraisal bias course. Requires, in addition to successfully completing an examination, applicants for licensure as a certified residential real estate appraiser or a certified general real estate appraiser to also successfully complete a fair housing and appraisal bias education course administered or approved by the Real Estate Appraiser Board prior to licensure, the specifics of which are provided in the bill.

## 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/1082709.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216303.PDF)
3. **General Laws Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1098410.PDF)
4. **General Laws and Technology Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1196394.HTML)
5. **Housing/Consumer Protection Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1094582.PDF)
6. **Senate Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1203760.HTML)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1212223.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **36–3** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **81–18** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **66–32** (pass) · lower
- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alex Q. Askew — primary (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Rae Cousins — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102831D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-06** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-19** Assigned HGL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-22** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2026-01-27** Reported from General Laws with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-27** Committee substitute printed 26105954D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-01-28** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB170)
- **2026-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-01-30** Moved from Uncontested Calendar to Regular Calendar
- **2026-01-30** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-01-30** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-01-30** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-02** Read third time and passed House (81-Y 18-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-03** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03** Senate committee offered
- **2026-03-04** Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (14-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-06** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-06** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-06** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-09** Passed by for the day
- **2026-03-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** General Laws and Technology Amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-10** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate with amendment (36-Y 3-N 1-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Senate amendment agreed to by House (66-Y 32-N 0-A) `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB170ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-01** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB170)
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 81 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0081)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/745926de-dcb4-4c96-825f-b542cd144da9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).