republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1228.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Va. Fair Housing Law; responsibilities with respect to use of an assistance animal in a dwelling."
description: "Sets out the rights and responsibilities under the Virginia Fair Housing Law (§ 36-96.1 et seq.) with respect to maintaining an assistance animal in a dwelling. The bill establishes a process through which a person with a disability may submit a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling, including any supporting documentation verifying the disability and disability-related need for an accommodation. Under the bill, a request for reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal may be denied for any one of the following reasons: (i) the requester does not have a disability; (ii) the requester does not have a disability-related need for an assistance animal; (iii) the accommodation imposes an undue financial and administrative burden on the person receiving the request; or (iv) the accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the operations of the person receiving the request. The bill provides that whenever a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling is denied for reasons other than that the requester does not have a disability or a disability-related need for an assistance animal, an interactive process shall be initiated to determine if there is an alternative accommodation that would effectively address the disability-related need. The bill also defines \"assistance animal,\" \"major life activities,\" \"therapeutic relationship,\" and \"physical or mental impairment.\" The bill provides that if any provision of its provisions is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be not substantially equivalent or otherwise inconsistent with the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as amended, such provision shall not be enforceable. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1228"
citation: "Virginia SB 1228 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Animal Care and Food", "Housing"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["George L. Barker"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/652a2a17-64dc-44ae-8f7c-8f73de7996ae"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1228"
source_hash: "9cc259a7f86172b83a3bcc0217d7ec9302e3dd3c22a8328b6de498e4b4a2256a"
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 SB 1228 (2017) — Va. Fair Housing Law; responsibilities with respect to use of an assistance animal in a dwelling.

Sets out the rights and responsibilities under the Virginia Fair Housing Law (§ 36-96.1 et seq.) with respect to maintaining an assistance animal in a dwelling. The bill establishes a process through which a person with a disability may submit a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling, including any supporting documentation verifying the disability and disability-related need for an accommodation. Under the bill, a request for reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal may be denied for any one of the following reasons: (i) the requester does not have a disability; (ii) the requester does not have a disability-related need for an assistance animal; (iii) the accommodation imposes an undue financial and administrative burden on the person receiving the request; or (iv) the accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the operations of the person receiving the request. The bill provides that whenever a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling is denied for reasons other than that the requester does not have a disability or a disability-related need for an assistance animal, an interactive process shall be initiated to determine if there is an alternative accommodation that would effectively address the disability-related need. The bill also defines "assistance animal," "major life activities," "therapeutic relationship," and "physical or mental impairment." The bill provides that if any provision of its provisions is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be not substantially equivalent or otherwise inconsistent with the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as amended, such provision shall not be enforceable. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission. 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 (CHAP0575)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0575)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105525D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1228H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1228ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1228ER)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17104922D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1228S1)
5. **Senate: Conference substitute printed 17105773D-S2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1228S2)
6. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103819D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1228)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **6–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate acceded to request — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with substitute — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- House substitute rejected by Senate — **1–39** (fail) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **92–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- George L. Barker — primary (person)
- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103819D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-07** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-07** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-07** Committee substitute agreed to 17104922D-S1
- **2017-02-07** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1228S1
- **2017-02-09** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Assigned GL sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-21** Committee substitute agreed to 17105525D-H1
- **2017-02-21** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1228H1
- **2017-02-21** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-23** House insisted on substitute
- **2017-02-23** House requested conference committee
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-24** Conference substitute printed 17105773D-S2
- **2017-02-24** Conference report agreed to by House (92-Y 0-N)
- **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 575 (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/652a2a17-64dc-44ae-8f7c-8f73de7996ae`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).