republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1979.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contractors, Board for; exemptions, responsibility for contracting with unlicensed person."
description: "Exempts from licensure work undertaken by a person providing construction, remodeling, repair, improvement, removal, or demolition valued at $2,500 or less per project on behalf of a properly licensed contractor, provided that such contractor holds a valid license in the residential or commercial building contractor classification. The bill provides, however, that any construction services that require an individual license or certification shall be rendered only by an individual licensed or certified by the Board for Contractors. The bill also provides that any contractor that directly employs or otherwise contracts with a person who is not credentialed by the Board for Contractors for work requiring a credential shall be solely responsible for any monetary penalty or other sanction resulting from the act of employing or contracting with a person who lacks the proper credential based upon such person's failure to obtain or maintain the required credential. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1979"
citation: "Virginia HB 1979 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Commissions", "Boards and Institutions Generally", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Christopher K. Peace"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-02-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/55e0e959-43f8-4b4f-86fe-3db3cab2ff38"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1979"
source_hash: "476dc03f73cb6a1b657d8d846830d18f5f3cc15c78cd28a09ed99ac0b326ee8a"
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 1979 (2017) — Contractors, Board for; exemptions, responsibility for contracting with unlicensed person.

Exempts from licensure work undertaken by a person providing construction, remodeling, repair, improvement, removal, or demolition valued at $2,500 or less per project on behalf of a properly licensed contractor, provided that such contractor holds a valid license in the residential or commercial building contractor classification. The bill provides, however, that any construction services that require an individual license or certification shall be rendered only by an individual licensed or certified by the Board for Contractors. The bill also provides that any contractor that directly employs or otherwise contracts with a person who is not credentialed by the Board for Contractors for work requiring a credential shall be solely responsible for any monetary penalty or other sanction resulting from the act of employing or contracting with a person who lacks the proper credential based upon such person's failure to obtain or maintain the required credential. 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 (CHAP0132)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0132)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1979ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1979ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104570D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1979H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103721D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1979)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendment agreed to by House — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Christopher K. Peace — primary (person)
- Bill R. DeSteph, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103721D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #4 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-26** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-27** Committee substitute agreed to 17104570D-H1
- **2017-01-27** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1979H1
- **2017-01-30** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-31** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-09** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-09** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-09** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2017-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-13** Senate amendment agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N)
- **2017-02-14** Enrolled
- **2017-02-14** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-15** Signed by President
- **2017-02-15** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/15/17
- **2017-02-15** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 22, 2017
- **2017-02-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 132 (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/55e0e959-43f8-4b4f-86fe-3db3cab2ff38`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).