republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-2006.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Va. Fair Housing Law; responsibilities with respect to use of an assistance animal in a dwelling."
description: "Sets out the rights and responsibilities under the Virginia Fair Housing Law (§ 36-96.1 et seq.) with respect to maintaining an assistance animal in a dwelling. The bill establishes a process through which a person with a disability may submit a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling, including any supporting documentation verifying the disability and disability-related need for an accommodation. Under the bill, a request for reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal may be denied for any one of the following reasons: (i) the requester does not have a disability; (ii) the requester does not have a disability-related need for an assistance animal; (iii) the accommodation imposes an undue financial and administrative burden on the person receiving the request; or (iv) the accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the operations of the person receiving the request. The bill provides that whenever a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling is denied for reasons other than that the requester does not have a disability or a disability-related need for an assistance animal, an interactive process shall be initiated to determine if there is an alternative accommodation that would effectively address the disability-related need. The bill also defines \"assistance animal,\" \"major life activities,\" \"therapeutic relationship,\" and \"physical or mental impairment.\" The bill provides that if any provision of its provisions is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be not substantially equivalent or otherwise inconsistent with the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as amended, such provision shall not be enforceable. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 2006"
citation: "Virginia HB 2006 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Animal Care and Food", "Housing"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Betsy B. Carr"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 26
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02dc4223-ba80-44d4-9164-a118a104f6c8"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2006"
source_hash: "5b89219b585f37dd2b82adcbfb8d7ac4bf32b875fc611372450bab230c2bd619"
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 2006 (2017) — Va. Fair Housing Law; responsibilities with respect to use of an assistance animal in a dwelling.

Sets out the rights and responsibilities under the Virginia Fair Housing Law (§ 36-96.1 et seq.) with respect to maintaining an assistance animal in a dwelling. The bill establishes a process through which a person with a disability may submit a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling, including any supporting documentation verifying the disability and disability-related need for an accommodation. Under the bill, a request for reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal may be denied for any one of the following reasons: (i) the requester does not have a disability; (ii) the requester does not have a disability-related need for an assistance animal; (iii) the accommodation imposes an undue financial and administrative burden on the person receiving the request; or (iv) the accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the operations of the person receiving the request. The bill provides that whenever a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling is denied for reasons other than that the requester does not have a disability or a disability-related need for an assistance animal, an interactive process shall be initiated to determine if there is an alternative accommodation that would effectively address the disability-related need. The bill also defines "assistance animal," "major life activities," "therapeutic relationship," and "physical or mental impairment." The bill provides that if any provision of its provisions is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be not substantially equivalent or otherwise inconsistent with the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as amended, such provision shall not be enforceable. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0729)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0729)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2006ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2006ER)
3. **House: Conference substitute printed 17105862D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2006H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103597D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2006)
5. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17105420D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2006S1)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate substitute rejected by House 17105420D-S1 — **3–91** (fail) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **93–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate insisted on substitute — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws — **22–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Betsy B. Carr — primary (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103597D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-24** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-25** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-26** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-26** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-16** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-16** Committee substitute agreed to 17105420D-S1
- **2017-02-16** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB2006S1
- **2017-02-20** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-20** Senate substitute rejected by House 17105420D-S1 (3-Y 91-N)
- **2017-02-21** Senate requested conference committee
- **2017-02-22** House acceded to request
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-24** Conference substitute printed 17105862D-H1
- **2017-02-24** Conference report agreed to by House (93-Y 0-N)
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 729 (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/02dc4223-ba80-44d4-9164-a118a104f6c8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).