republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-461.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	Special education; certain educational settings, student age range restriction.	Special education; student age range restrictions in educational settings. Prohibits any student with a disability in grades kindergarten through six from being regularly assigned to any educational setting, including any specialized educational setting, in which the maximum age range exceeds four years unless the student's individualized education program (IEP) team determines that an exception is appropriate and justifies such exception in the student's IEP. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2026	HB 461	Virginia HB 461 (2026)	bill		enacted	Laura Jane Cohen	8	38	7	2026-01-12	2026-04-13	openstates	ocd-bill/e122e6ee-db41-4a35-84ee-687e68a1865c	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB461	a930f38e6392f151973f6147577cd99b0c1aeb5e0a32b365bf7f62dc54cc9f50	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 461 (2026) — Special education; certain educational settings, student age range restriction.

Special education; student age range restrictions in educational settings. Prohibits any student with a disability in grades kindergarten through six from being regularly assigned to any educational setting, including any specialized educational setting, in which the maximum age range exceeds four years unless the student's individualized education program (IEP) team determines that an exception is appropriate and justifies such exception in the student's IEP. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. Education Amendment (committee substitute) — source
4. Education Substitute (committee substitute) — source
5. Education and Health Amendment (committee substitute) — source
6. K-12 Subcommittee Subcommittee Amendment (committee substitute) — source
7. Senate Amendment (committee substitute) — source
8. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — 9–1 (pass) · lower
• Passage R — 21–19 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Education and Health with amendment — 9–6 (pass) · upper
• H VOTE: — 68–28 (pass) · lower
• H VOTE: — 71–28 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Education with substitute — 16–5 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Laura Jane Cohen — primary (person)
• Virgil Thornton — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2026-01-12 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101364D filing, introduction
• 2026-01-12 Referred to Committee on Education referral-committee
• 2026-02-02 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB461)
• 2026-02-05 Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee referral-committee
• 2026-02-09 House subcommittee offered
• 2026-02-10 Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 1-N)
• 2026-02-11 House committee offered
• 2026-02-11 Reported from Education with substitute (16-Y 5-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-11 Committee substitute printed 26107653D-H1 substitution
• 2026-02-11 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB461)
• 2026-02-13 Read first time reading-1
• 2026-02-16 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-02-16 committee substitute agreed to substitution
• 2026-02-16 Engrossed by House - committee substitute substitution
• 2026-02-17 Read third time and passed House (69-Y 28-N 0-A) passage, reading-3
• 2026-02-18 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
• 2026-02-18 Referred to Committee on Education and Health referral-committee
• 2026-02-26 Assigned Education sub: Public Education referral-committee
• 2026-02-26 Senate subcommittee offered
• 2026-03-05 Reported from Education and Health with amendment (9-Y 6-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 Education and Health Amendment agreed to amendment-passage
• 2026-03-10 Engrossed by Senate as amended
• 2026-03-10 Passed Senate with amendment (21-Y 19-N 0-A) passage
• 2026-03-11 Senate amendment agreed to by House (71-Y 28-N 0-A) amendment-passage
• 2026-03-30 Enrolled enrolled
• 2026-03-30 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB461ER) passage
• 2026-03-30 Signed by President passage
• 2026-03-31 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB461)
• 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
• 2026-04-13 Approved by Governor-Chapter 617 (effective 7/1/2026) executive-signature
• 2026-04-13 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0617)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/e122e6ee-db41-4a35-84ee-687e68a1865c. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).