---
type: "Bill"
title: "Diploma seal for excellence in fine arts; established, industry-recognized workforce credential."
description: "Diploma seal for excellence in fine arts established; industry-recognized workforce credential. Requires the Board of Education to establish criteria for awarding a high school diploma seal for excellence in fine arts, which may include a sequence of coursework, cumulative grade point average in such sequence of coursework, or any other performance-based criteria that the Board deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board to add such diploma seal to its list of industry-recognized workforce credentials for the purpose of satisfying the career and technical education credential option for high school graduation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 478"
citation: "Virginia HB 478 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Vivian E. Watts"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-12"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/93f502dc-b1ce-47c8-ab2f-2819cf25d5bf"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB478"
source_hash: "223e6608c5ab6a9fee81526920a0e4d53792437374dea56d665290021c126ddf"
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 478 (2026) — Diploma seal for excellence in fine arts; established, industry-recognized workforce credential.

Diploma seal for excellence in fine arts established; industry-recognized workforce credential. Requires the Board of Education to establish criteria for awarding a high school diploma seal for excellence in fine arts, which may include a sequence of coursework, cumulative grade point average in such sequence of coursework, or any other performance-based criteria that the Board deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board to add such diploma seal to its list of industry-recognized workforce credentials for the purpose of satisfying the career and technical education credential option for high school graduation.

## 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/1084606.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216733.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1193974.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Education — **17–3** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **68–28** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Vivian E. Watts — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102498D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-12** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-29** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB478)
- **2026-01-30** Assigned HED sub: Early Childhood and Innovation `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-04** Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 1-N)
- **2026-02-09** Reported from Education (17-Y 3-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-11** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-12** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-13** Read third time and passed House (68-Y 28-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-16** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-16** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-26** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-27** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-27** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (37-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-27** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-02** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-05** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB478ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB478)
- **2026-03-05** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 152 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0152)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/93f502dc-b1ce-47c8-ab2f-2819cf25d5bf`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).