republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-462.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health Ed. SOL; Bd. of Ed. to require literacy instruction in grade 9 & 10 in next revision."
description: "Board of Education; review and revision of Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework; development of health care literacy instruction; removal of duplicative or outdated health instruction. Directs the Board of Education, during its next regularly scheduled revision of the Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework to, in consultation with the School Health Services Committee, (i) develop a health care literacy program of instruction to be required at grades nine and 10 for the purpose of helping students navigate the health care system efficiently and effectively and, in developing such program of instruction, to consider the inclusion of certain topics and content enumerated by the bill and (ii) identify and remove from such Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework for grades nine and 10 any instructional subjects or topics the inclusion of which is duplicative or outdated."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 462"
citation: "Virginia HB 462 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Laura Jane Cohen"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 40
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2026-01-12"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e54d6222-536c-47ce-9fd3-e2c1acca4a12"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB462"
source_hash: "a78676dcc025209e4a1a8100c682a4ad2cd265d3db70f07a0c133ebab0483af6"
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 462 (2026) — Health Ed. SOL; Bd. of Ed. to require literacy instruction in grade 9 & 10 in next revision.

Board of Education; review and revision of Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework; development of health care literacy instruction; removal of duplicative or outdated health instruction. Directs the Board of Education, during its next regularly scheduled revision of the Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework to, in consultation with the School Health Services Committee, (i) develop a health care literacy program of instruction to be required at grades nine and 10 for the purpose of helping students navigate the health care system efficiently and effectively and, in developing such program of instruction, to consider the inclusion of certain topics and content enumerated by the bill and (ii) identify and remove from such Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework for grades nine and 10 any instructional subjects or topics the inclusion of which is duplicative or outdated.

## 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/1084539.PDF)
2. **Education Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1107618.PDF)
3. **Education and Health Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1185446.PDF)
4. **K-12 Subcommittee Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1097412.PDF)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1199262.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Education with substitute — **14–7** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **21–19** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **64–34** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **64–33** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education with substitute — **17–5** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Laura Jane Cohen — primary (person)
- Nicole Cole — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101365D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-12** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-23** Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-27** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (9-Y 1-N) `substitution`
- **2026-01-27** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB462)
- **2026-02-02** Reported from Education with substitute and referred to Appropriations (17-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-04** Reconsidered by Education
- **2026-02-04** Reported from Education with substitute (14-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-04** Committee substitute printed 26106279D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-09** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB462)
- **2026-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-09** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-09** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-10** Read third time and passed House (64-Y 34-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-11** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-26** Senate subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-26** Senate committee offered
- **2026-02-26** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (10-Y 0-N 4-A) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-27** Committee substitute printed 26108313D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-27** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB462)
- **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** Education and Health Substitute agreed to
- **2026-03-02** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-03-02** Passed Senate with substitute (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-04** Senate substitute agreed to by House (64-Y 33-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-11** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-11** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB462ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB462)
- **2026-03-11** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-12** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 799 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e54d6222-536c-47ce-9fd3-e2c1acca4a12`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).