republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/hb-731.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Teachers; renewable licenses, requirements, assessments."
description: "Teachers; renewable licenses; requirements;assessments. Prohibits the Board of Education from includingin its regulations governing the award of a renewable license asa teacher any requirement that an individual take and receive a passingscore on any national or state-based communications and literacyassessment as a condition of the initial award or renewal of sucha license. The bill also clarifies that the Board is not prohibitedfrom requiring any such individual to take and receive a passingscore on any other assessment as a condition of the initial awardor renewal of such a license."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 731"
citation: "Virginia HB 731 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Briana D. Sewell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/15690673-f2d5-41d3-a54a-e3b376224996"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB731"
source_hash: "075ae34f71d5b24a5d055213aa81c7e3bd39b11ee155f5a931b7d275c68af7c4"
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 731 (2024) — Teachers; renewable licenses, requirements, assessments.

Teachers; renewable licenses; requirements;assessments. Prohibits the Board of Education from includingin its regulations governing the award of a renewable license asa teacher any requirement that an individual take and receive a passingscore on any national or state-based communications and literacyassessment as a condition of the initial award or renewal of sucha license. The bill also clarifies that the Board is not prohibitedfrom requiring any such individual to take and receive a passingscore on any other assessment as a condition of the initial awardor renewal of such a license.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0729** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0729)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24105875D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB731H1)
3. **HB731ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB731ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100915D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB731)

## Votes

- Reported from Education with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Briana D. Sewell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24100915D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-19** Assigned Education sub: K-12 Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-22** Impact statement from DPB (HB731)
- **2024-01-29** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-02-06** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2024-02-07** Reported from Education with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-07** Committee substitute printed 24105875D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-07** Impact statement from DPB (HB731H1)
- **2024-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-12** Committee substitute agreed to 24105875D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-12** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB731H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-13** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-13** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2024-02-14** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-21** Assigned Education and Health Sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-29** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-01** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-04** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-07** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB731ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Impact statement from DPB (HB731ER)
- **2024-03-07** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-08** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 729 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0729)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/15690673-f2d5-41d3-a54a-e3b376224996`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).