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---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public schools; mental health awareness training and instruction, requirements."
description: "Public schools; mental health awareness training and instruction; requirements. Requires each teacher and other relevant personnel, as determined by the applicable school board, employed on a full-time basis to complete mental health awareness training that addresses the needs of youth populations that are at a high risk of experiencing mental health challenges and disorders in accordance with evidence-based best practices developed by the American Psychological Association. Current law requires such teachers and personnel to complete mental health awareness training but does not contain any requirements relating to the specific topics such training must address. The bill prohibits any of its provisions or any policy adopted in accordance with its provisions from being construed to permit biased or discriminatory treatment of any youth population deemed to be at a high risk of experiencing mental health challenges and disorders."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 38"
citation: "Virginia HB 38 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rozia A. Henson, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-12-23"
last_action: "2026-04-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e4f993e6-6aeb-4b54-8611-68c2fa46074d"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB38"
source_hash: "a8d66daa6187254529248a343487dd3193105f5f27074ab41fe873e68bf4cea8"
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 38 (2026) — Public schools; mental health awareness training and instruction, requirements.
Public schools; mental health awareness training and instruction; requirements. Requires each teacher and other relevant personnel, as determined by the applicable school board, employed on a full-time basis to complete mental health awareness training that addresses the needs of youth populations that are at a high risk of experiencing mental health challenges and disorders in accordance with evidence-based best practices developed by the American Psychological Association. Current law requires such teachers and personnel to complete mental health awareness training but does not contain any requirements relating to the specific topics such training must address. The bill prohibits any of its provisions or any policy adopted in accordance with its provisions from being construed to permit biased or discriminatory treatment of any youth population deemed to be at a high risk of experiencing mental health challenges and disorders.
## 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/1082066.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1215535.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1193711.PDF)
## Votes
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **370** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **2119** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **96** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education — **166** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **6831** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **91** (pass) · lower
## Sponsors
- Rozia A. Henson, Jr. — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Bonita G. Anthony — cosponsor (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Debra D. Gardner — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth B. Bennett-Parker — cosponsor (person)
- Garrett McGuire — cosponsor (person)
- Gretchen M. Bulova — cosponsor (person)
- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
- Joshua G. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Karen Keys-Gamarra — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy K.L. Tran — cosponsor (person)
- Katrina Callsen — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret A. Franklin — cosponsor (person)
- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)
## Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- **2025-12-23** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101402D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-12-23** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-19** Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 1-N)
- **2026-01-21** Reported from Education (16-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-01-27** Read third time and passed House (68-Y 31-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-01-28** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-30** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB38)
- **2026-02-19** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-26** Reported from Education and Health (9-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-27** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-27** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (37-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-27** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-02** Passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-06** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-06** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB38ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-06** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB38)
- **2026-03-06** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-06** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 47 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-02** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0047)
## Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e4f993e6-6aeb-4b54-8611-68c2fa46074d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).