Virginia bills · 2026 Regular Session
Virginia HB 1499
DOE; policies relating to instructional material that contains sexually explicit content.
- Introduced
- In committee
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To Governor
- Became law
Sponsors
- Destiny LeVere Bolling (Democratic)
Cosponsors (2)
- Nicole Cole (Democratic)
- Laura Jane Cohen (Democratic)
Summary
Official abstract published by the Virginia legislature· SUMMARY AS PASSED
Department of Education; policies relating to instructional material that contains sexually explicit content; applicability; construction. Amends current law requiring the Department of Education to develop model policies and each school board to adopt policies consistent with the Department's model policies for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content by (i) defining "instructional material" as any material, regardless of its format, assigned and provided to a student by a public school teacher directly for the completion of an assignment or curricular objective and clarifying that "instructional material" does not include any book or audiovisual material available in a public school library unless specifically required or assigned by a public school teacher directly for completion of an assignment or curricular objective and (ii) providing that nothing in the applicable law or any model policy or amendments thereto adopted by the Department or any policy or amendments thereto adopted by a school board pursuant to the applicable law shall be (a) construed to permit the censoring of books in any public elementary or secondary school or (b) utilized as a rationale or basis for the removal of books from any public elementary or secondary school. This bill is identical to SB 19.
Text versions
Roll-call votes
State vote data last updated Oct 15, 2026, 8:04 PM.
| Date | Vote | Result | Your legislators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 23, 2026 Senate | Passage R | pass | Set your home in Virginia to see |
| Feb 20, 2026 Senate | Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) | pass | Set your home in Virginia to see |
| Feb 19, 2026 Senate | Reported from Education and Health | pass | Set your home in Virginia to see |
| Feb 10, 2026 House | H VOTE: | pass | Set your home in Virginia to see |
| Feb 4, 2026 House | Reported from Education | pass | Set your home in Virginia to see |
| Feb 3, 2026 House | Subcommittee recommends reporting | pass | Set your home in Virginia to see |
Actions
- Apr 6, 2026
Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0321) - Apr 6, 2026
Approved by Governor-Chapter 321 (effective 7/1/2026) - Mar 10, 2026
Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 - Mar 10, 2026 · House
Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 - Feb 25, 2026 · Senate
Signed by President - Feb 25, 2026 · House
Signed by Speaker - Feb 25, 2026 · House
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1499) - Feb 25, 2026 · House
Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1499ER) - Feb 25, 2026 · House
Enrolled - Feb 23, 2026 · Senate
Passed Senate (20-Y 18-N 0-A) - Feb 23, 2026 · Senate
Read third time - Feb 20, 2026 · Senate
Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) - Feb 20, 2026 · Senate
Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) - Feb 20, 2026 · Senate
Rules suspended - Feb 19, 2026 · Senate
Reported from Education and Health (9-Y 5-N) - Feb 11, 2026 · Senate
Referred to Committee on Education and Health - Feb 11, 2026 · Senate
Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) - Feb 10, 2026 · House
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1499) - Feb 10, 2026 · House
Read third time and passed House (62-Y 35-N 0-A) - Feb 9, 2026 · House
Read second time and engrossed - Feb 6, 2026 · House
Read first time - Feb 4, 2026 · House
Reported from Education (14-Y 7-N) - Feb 3, 2026 · House
Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 3-N) - Feb 2, 2026 · House
Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee - Jan 23, 2026 · House
Referred to Committee on Education - Jan 23, 2026 · House
Presented and ordered printed 26101382D