republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-859.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Farm to School Program Task Force; membership requirements."
description: "Department of Education; Farm to School Program Task Force; membership requirements. Amends the membership requirements of the Farm to School Program Task Force established in accordance with applicable law by requiring the membership to include (i) one member of the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules after consideration of the recommendation of the Chair of the Senate Committee on Education and Health; (ii) one member of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates after consideration of the recommendation of the Chair of the House Committee on Education; (iii) at least four members to be appointed by the Department of Education, including at least one school board member, one representative of the Department of General Services involved in procurement, one representative of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and one farmer or producer in the Commonwealth who sells only the farm or agricultural products produced or grown by him; and (iv) such additional members as the Department of Education deems necessary or appropriate."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 859"
citation: "Virginia HB 859 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rae Cousins"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 35
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e7250a6c-a748-4459-85e0-94d0627bcf61"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB859"
source_hash: "4217808eae9b09234e0aebfef6166feccb2b02744242ae7e98586763b6e71425"
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 859 (2026) — Farm to School Program Task Force; membership requirements.

Department of Education; Farm to School Program Task Force; membership requirements. Amends the membership requirements of the Farm to School Program Task Force established in accordance with applicable law by requiring the membership to include (i) one member of the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules after consideration of the recommendation of the Chair of the Senate Committee on Education and Health; (ii) one member of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates after consideration of the recommendation of the Chair of the House Committee on Education; (iii) at least four members to be appointed by the Department of Education, including at least one school board member, one representative of the Department of General Services involved in procurement, one representative of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and one farmer or producer in the Commonwealth who sells only the farm or agricultural products produced or grown by him; and (iv) such additional members as the Department of Education deems necessary or appropriate.

## 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/1086211.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1221723.PDF)
3. **Education and Health Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1185454.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1210864.PDF)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **93–2** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **98–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education — **18–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Rae Cousins — primary (person)
- Amy J. Laufer — cosponsor (person)
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Cole — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26105157D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-23** Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N)
- **2026-01-28** Reported from Education (18-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-29** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB859)
- **2026-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-02** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-03** Read third time and passed House (93-Y 2-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-04** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Senate subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-26** Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-27** Committee substitute printed 26108248D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-03-02** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB859)
- **2026-03-04** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-05** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-05** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-05** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-06** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-09** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-09** Education and Health Substitute agreed to
- **2026-03-09** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-03-09** Passed Senate with substitute Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Senate substitute agreed to by House (98-Y 1-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB859ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB859)
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 684 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-13** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0684)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e7250a6c-a748-4459-85e0-94d0627bcf61`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).