republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-685.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	School bd. policies; communication & language accessibility for limited English proficient parents.	School boards; language access plan for limited English proficient parents. Requires each school board to develop, implement, and post in a publicly accessible location on its website a language access plan consisting of policies and procedures designed to ensure meaningful communication with and informational accessibility for limited English proficient (LEP) parents, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. This bill is identical to HB 1278.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2026	SB 685	Virginia SB 685 (2026)	bill		enacted	Stella G. Pekarsky	7	47	11	2026-01-14	2026-04-13	openstates	ocd-bill/f9b492d6-5d01-4037-817a-ba861f08a38c	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB685	7817eced0f65be95cca28894688d8e75a9f15834d69649ebfe9bc653f1b18e95	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 685 (2026) — School bd. policies; communication & language accessibility for limited English proficient parents.

School boards; language access plan for limited English proficient parents. Requires each school board to develop, implement, and post in a publicly accessible location on its website a language access plan consisting of policies and procedures designed to ensure meaningful communication with and informational accessibility for limited English proficient (LEP) parents, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. This bill is identical to HB 1278.

Version chain

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

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

Votes

• Concur House Substitute R — 0–40 (fail) · upper
• Reported from Finance and Appropriations — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Accede Conference Committee R — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Education and Health with amendments — 14–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — 7–3 (pass) · lower
• Passage R — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Constitutional reading dispensed R — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Adopt Conference Committee Report R — 25–14 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Education with substitute — 15–7 (pass) · lower
• H VOTE: — 64–33 (pass) · lower
• H VOTE: — 66–33 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Stella G. Pekarsky — primary (person)
• Jennifer D. Carroll Foy — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2026-01-14 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104840D filing, introduction
• 2026-01-14 Referred to Committee on Education and Health referral-committee
• 2026-01-22 Assigned Education sub: Public Education referral-committee
• 2026-01-22 Senate subcommittee offered
• 2026-01-29 Senate committee offered
• 2026-01-29 Reported from Education and Health with amendments and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N 1-A) committee-passage
• 2026-02-03 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB685)
• 2026-02-10 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-11 Rules suspended
• 2026-02-11 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
• 2026-02-11 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
• 2026-02-12 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-02-12 Education and Health Amendments agreed to amendment-passage
• 2026-02-12 Engrossed by Senate as amended (Voice Vote)
• 2026-02-13 Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N 0-A) passage, reading-3
• 2026-02-13 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB685)
• 2026-02-19 Placed on Calendar
• 2026-02-19 Read first time reading-1
• 2026-02-19 Referred to Committee on Education referral-committee
• 2026-02-24 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 3-N) substitution
• 2026-02-25 Reported from Education with substitute (15-Y 7-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-25 Committee substitute printed 26108227D-H1 substitution
• 2026-02-25 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB685)
• 2026-02-27 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-03-02 Read third time reading-3
• 2026-03-02 committee substitute agreed to substitution
• 2026-03-02 Engrossed by House - committee substitute substitution
• 2026-03-02 Passed House with substitute (66-Y 33-N 0-A) passage
• 2026-03-04 House substitute rejected by Senate (0-Y 40-N 0-A)
• 2026-03-06 House insisted on substitute substitution
• 2026-03-06 House requested conference committee referral-committee
• 2026-03-10 Senate acceded to request Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
• 2026-03-10 Conferees appointed by Senate
• 2026-03-10 Senate Conferees: Pekarsky, Favola, Craig
• 2026-03-11 Conferees appointed by House
• 2026-03-11 House Conferees: Reaser, Cohen, Tata
• 2026-03-13 Conference report agreed to by Senate (25-Y 14-N 0-A) committee-passage-favorable
• 2026-03-14 Conference Report released
• 2026-03-14 Conference report agreed to by House (64-Y 33-N 0-A) committee-passage-favorable
• 2026-03-30 Enrolled enrolled
• 2026-03-30 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB685ER) passage
• 2026-03-30 Signed by President passage
• 2026-03-31 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB685)
• 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 765 (effective 7/1/2026) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/f9b492d6-5d01-4037-817a-ba861f08a38c. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).