republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-856.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Cats and dogs; authorizes local government to provide for lifetime licenses.	Authorizes the governing body of a county or city to provide for a lifetime dog or cat license. The bill also removes the minimum annual tax for a dog or cat, sets the maximum tax for a lifetime license at $50, and limits the fee for a duplicate dog or cat tag to $1. This bill is identical to	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2017	SB 856	Virginia SB 856 (2017)	bill	Agriculture Animal Care and Food Counties Cities and Towns	enacted	Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.	3	23	9	2016-12-04	2017-03-16	openstates	ocd-bill/ec655927-b36c-460a-b3b2-2698cb65dd63	http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB856	1ad30f008a8c24d2dd918c71a3f5c7b9a52cef3c325db02c039ef140f5bfd827	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 856 (2017) — Cats and dogs; authorizes local government to provide for lifetime licenses.

Authorizes the governing body of a county or city to provide for a lifetime dog or cat license. The bill also removes the minimum annual tax for a dog or cat, sets the maximum tax for a lifetime license at $50, and limits the fee for a duplicate dog or cat tag to $1. 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 (CHAP0567) (committee substitute) — source
2. Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB856ER) (committee substitute) — source
3. Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101869D (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Conference report agreed to by Senate — 40–0 (pass) · legislature
• Conference report agreed to by House — 92–0 (pass) · legislature
• Read third time and passed Senate — 40–0 (pass) · legislature
• Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE — 95–0 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendments — 22–0 (pass) · legislature
• Senate acceded to request — 40–0 (pass) · legislature
• Constitutional reading dispensed — 39–0 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — 13–0 (pass) · legislature
• House amendments rejected by Senate — 0–40 (fail) · legislature

Sponsors

• Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. — primary (person)
• Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
• Richard H. Black — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2016-12-04 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101869D introduction
• 2016-12-04 Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources referral-committee
• 2017-01-17 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
• 2017-01-30 Placed on Calendar
• 2017-01-30 Read first time reading-1
• 2017-01-30 Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources referral-committee
• 2017-02-09 Read second time reading-2
• 2017-02-10 Read third time reading-3
• 2017-02-10 Committee amendments agreed to
• 2017-02-10 Engrossed by House as amended
• 2017-02-10 Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) passage
• 2017-02-15 House insisted on amendments
• 2017-02-15 House requested conference committee
• 2017-02-17 Conferees appointed by Senate
• 2017-02-20 Conferees appointed by House
• 2017-02-23 Amended by conference committee
• 2017-02-24 Conference report agreed to by House (92-Y 0-N 1-A)
• 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
• 2017-03-16 Approved by Governor-Chapter 567 (effective 7/1/17) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/ec655927-b36c-460a-b3b2-2698cb65dd63. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).