republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1408.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Student vision screenings; requirements for certain students."
description: "Requires (i) the principal of each public elementary school to cause the vision of students in kindergarten and grade two or grade three to be screened unless certain exceptions apply and (ii) the principal of each public middle school and high school to cause the vision of students in grade seven and grade 10 to be screened unless certain exceptions apply and permits any such screening to be conducted by a qualified nonprofit vision health organization that uses a digital photoscreening method pursuant to a comprehensive vision program or other methods that comply with Department of Education requirements. The bill defines \"qualified nonprofit vision health organization\" and \"comprehensive vision program.\" Under current law, the frequency of such vision screenings is determined by the Board of Education pursuant to regulations. Current law is silent on the method and provider of such vision screenings."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1408"
citation: "Virginia HB 1408 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education", "Health"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["R. Lee Ware"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2016-09-26"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/370c3ea5-da4c-4ecb-86c3-9c0ea168bc9c"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1408"
source_hash: "53faee8f8c02ee835bf21a149eca3ab51616ab6b342d1874c6bbe7a74f4af232"
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 1408 (2017) — Student vision screenings; requirements for certain students.

Requires (i) the principal of each public elementary school to cause the vision of students in kindergarten and grade two or grade three to be screened unless certain exceptions apply and (ii) the principal of each public middle school and high school to cause the vision of students in grade seven and grade 10 to be screened unless certain exceptions apply and permits any such screening to be conducted by a qualified nonprofit vision health organization that uses a digital photoscreening method pursuant to a comprehensive vision program or other methods that comply with Department of Education requirements. The bill defines "qualified nonprofit vision health organization" and "comprehensive vision program." Under current law, the frequency of such vision screenings is determined by the Board of Education pursuant to regulations. Current law is silent on the method and provider of such vision screenings.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0312)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0312)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1408ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1408ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104706D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1408H1)
4. **House: Floor substitute printed 17105175D-H2 (Ware)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1408H2)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100237D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1408)
6. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105532D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1408S1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **38–2** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105532D-S1 — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education with substitute — **20–1** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **6–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **38–1** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Appropriations with amendments — **19–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- R. Lee Ware — primary (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Roxann L. Robinson — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-09-26** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100237D `introduction`
- **2016-09-26** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-25** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-25** Assigned App. sub: Elementary & Secondary Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Floor substitute printed 17105175D-H2 (Ware)
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Education Committee substitute rejected 17104706D-H1
- **2017-02-06** Appropriations Committee amendments rejected
- **2017-02-06** Substitute by Delegate Ware agreed to 17105175D-H2
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by House - floor substitute HB1408H2
- **2017-02-07** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-20** Committee substitute agreed to 17105532D-S1
- **2017-02-20** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB1408S1
- **2017-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-21** Senate substitute agreed to by House 17105532D-S1 (95-Y 0-N)
- **2017-02-24** Enrolled
- **2017-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 312 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/370c3ea5-da4c-4ecb-86c3-9c0ea168bc9c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).