republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-1287.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Veterinarians; amending applications of licensure, etc."
description: "Board of Veterinary Medicine; applications for licensure or renewal; indication of interest to serve as a veterinarian for a public or private animal shelter. Directs the Board of Veterinary Medicine to amend its applications for licensure and renewal of licensure to allow applicants to indicate interest in serving as a veterinarian for public or private animal shelters and to provide disclosure that, if the applicant indicates such interest, the Board shall provide the applicant's name and contact information to the State Veterinarian for inclusion on a list distributed to animal shelters quarterly."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 1287"
citation: "Virginia HB 1287 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Laura Jane Cohen"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 32
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/17e3ce15-5ec6-4c0c-8f24-b1231bc95ee4"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB1287"
source_hash: "8de1d0c9631110b8f24865c37b51800d1c307c4d069772022979a1aa50623cbb"
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 1287 (2026) — Veterinarians; amending applications of licensure, etc.

Board of Veterinary Medicine; applications for licensure or renewal; indication of interest to serve as a veterinarian for a public or private animal shelter. Directs the Board of Veterinary Medicine to amend its applications for licensure and renewal of licensure to allow applicants to indicate interest in serving as a veterinarian for public or private animal shelters and to provide disclosure that, if the applicant indicates such interest, the Board shall provide the applicant's name and contact information to the State Veterinarian for inclusion on a list distributed to animal shelters quarterly.

## 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/1088053.PDF)
2. **Health Professions Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1101777.PDF)
3. **Health and Human Services Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1114625.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1209091.PDF)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Rereferred from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Laura Jane Cohen — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-14** Presented and ordered printed 26101713D `introduction`
- **2026-01-14** Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-23** Assigned sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-28** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1287)
- **2026-01-28** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-01-29** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2026-02-03** Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-03** Committee substitute printed 26105609D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-06** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-09** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-10** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-11** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1287)
- **2026-02-24** Rereferred from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources to Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-27** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-06** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-06** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-06** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-09** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-14** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1287ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-17** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1287)
- **2026-03-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 25, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 768 (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/17e3ce15-5ec6-4c0c-8f24-b1231bc95ee4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).