VA HB 495
Status unknownSchool boards; mental health awareness training for full-time school bus drivers.
Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower
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Quick answers
Did VA HB 495 pass?
The current status of VA HB 495 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-03-05): Continued to next session in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N)
What is VA HB 495 about?
School boards; mental health awareness training; full-time school bus drivers. Permits any school board to require each school bus driver employed on a full-time basis in the local school division to complete mental health awareness training at least once. The bill requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to consider condensing and abbreviating the existing mental health first aid training program into a two-hour module that any school board may utilize in order to train full-time school bus drivers.
Who sponsors VA HB 495?
Elizabeth R. Guzman is the primary sponsor of VA HB 495, joined by 5 cosponsors.
Description
School boards; mental health awareness training; full-time school bus drivers. Permits any school board to require each school bus driver employed on a full-time basis in the local school division to complete mental health awareness training at least once. The bill requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to consider condensing and abbreviating the existing mental health first aid training program into a two-hour module that any school board may utilize in order to train full-time school bus drivers.
- Introduced
- 2026-01-12
- Latest action
- 2026-03-05 — Continued to next session in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N)
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Sponsors
- Elizabeth R. Guzmanprimary
- Charlie Schmidtcosponsor
- Patrick A. Hopecosponsor
- Nadarius E. Clarkcosponsor
- Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegiecosponsor
- Jessica L. Andersoncosponsor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2026-03-05
Continued to next session in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N)
2026-02-26
Assigned Education sub: Public Education
referral-committee
2026-02-18
Referred to Committee on Education and Health
referral-committee
2026-02-18
Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
2026-02-17
Read third time and passed House (62-Y 34-N 0-A)
passage,reading-3
2026-02-16
Engrossed by House - committee substitute
substitution
2026-02-16
committee substitute agreed to
substitution
2026-02-16
Read second time
reading-2
2026-02-13
Read first time
reading-1
2026-02-12
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB495)
2026-02-11
Committee substitute printed 26107573D-H1
substitution
2026-02-11
Reported from Education with substitute (14-Y 7-N)
committee-passage
2026-02-11
House committee offered
2026-02-03
Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute and referring to Appropriations (7-Y 3-N)
substitution
2026-02-03
House subcommittee offered
2026-01-30
Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee
referral-committee
2026-01-29
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB495)
2026-01-12
Referred to Committee on Education
referral-committee
2026-01-12
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102869D
filing,introduction
Versions
Documents
Votes
Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute
2026-02-03 · pass · 7-3
Member-level votes (10)
- Shelly A. Simonds: yes
- Alex Q. Askew: yes
- Rae Cousins: yes
- Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
- Jessica L. Anderson: yes
- Lindsey Dougherty: yes
- Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
- Mike A. Cherry: no
- Anne Ferrell Tata: no
- Hillary Pugh Kent: no
Reported from Education with substitute
2026-02-11 · pass · 14-7
Member-level votes (22)
- Sam Rasoul: yes
- Shelly A. Simonds: yes
- Delores L. McQuinn: yes
- Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
- Briana D. Sewell: yes
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: not voting
- Alex Q. Askew: yes
- Nadarius E. Clark: yes
- Rae Cousins: yes
- Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
- Amy J. Laufer: yes
- Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
- Jessica L. Anderson: yes
- Lindsey Dougherty: yes
- Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
- Mike A. Cherry: no
- Anne Ferrell Tata: no
- Phillip A. Scott: no
- Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: no
- Eric R. Zehr: no
- Hillary Pugh Kent: no
- Madison Whittle: no
H VOTE:
2026-02-17 · pass · 61-34
Member-level votes (99)
- Bonita G. Anthony: yes
- Alex Q. Askew: yes
- Terry L. Austin: no
- Jason S. Ballard: no
- Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: no
- Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
- Katrina Callsen: yes
- Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
- Betsy B. Carr: yes
- Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
- Mike A. Cherry: no
- Nadarius E. Clark: not voting
- Laura Jane Cohen: yes
- Joshua G. Cole: yes
- Nicole Cole: yes
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
- Mitchell Cornett: no
- Rae Cousins: yes
- Will Davis: no
- Karrie K. Delaney: yes
- Lindsey Dougherty: yes
- Mark C. Downey: yes
- Michael B. Feggans: yes
- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: no
- Lily V. Franklin: yes
- Margaret A. Franklin: yes
- Debra D. Gardner: yes
- Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: no
- Jackie H. Glass: yes
- Timothy P. Griffin: no
- Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
- Karen Hamilton: no
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr.: yes
- Dan I. Helmer: yes
- Rozia A. Henson, Jr.: yes
- Phil M. Hernandez: yes
- Jessica L. Anderson: yes
- Charniele L. Herring: yes
- M. Keith Hodges: no
- Patrick A. Hope: yes
- Hillary Pugh Kent: no
- Karen Keys-Gamarra: yes
- Terry G. Kilgore: no
- Barry D. Knight: not voting
- Paul E. Krizek: yes
- Amy J. Laufer: yes
- James A. "Jay" Leftwich: no
- Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
- Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
- Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
- Marty Martinez: yes
- John Chilton McAuliff: not voting
- Adele Y. McClure: yes
- Garrett McGuire: yes
- Ellen H. McLaughlin: no
- Joseph P. McNamara: no
- Delores L. McQuinn: yes
- Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
- James W. Morefield: no
- May Nivar: yes
- Delores Oates: no
- Israel D. O'Quinn: not voting
- Justin Pence: no
- Eric Phillips: no
- Kimberly Pope Adams: yes
- Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
- Sam Rasoul: yes
- Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
- David A. Reid: yes
- Chris S. Runion: no
- Charlie Schmidt: yes
- Don Scott: yes
- Phillip A. Scott: no
- Holly M. Seibold: yes
- Briana D. Sewell: yes
- Irene Shin: yes
- Marcus B. Simon: yes
- Shelly A. Simonds: yes
- JJ Singh: yes
- Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.: yes
- Anne Ferrell Tata: no
- Joshua E. Thomas: yes
- Virgil Thornton: yes
- Luke E. Torian: yes
- Kathy K.L. Tran: yes
- H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: no
- Wendell S. Walker: no
- Jeion A. Ward: yes
- R. Lee Ware: no
- Vivian E. Watts: yes
- Michael J. Webert: no
- Madison Whittle: no
- Bill Wiley: no
- Rodney T. Willett: yes
- Wren M. Williams: no
- Tony O. Wilt: no
- Thomas C. Wright, Jr.: no
- Scott A. Wyatt: no
- Eric R. Zehr: no
Continued to next session in Education and Health
2026-03-05 · pass · 15-0
Member-level votes (15)
- Barbara A. Favola: yes
- L. Louise Lucas: yes
- Mamie E. Locke: yes
- David R. Suetterlein: yes
- Mark J. Peake: yes
- Todd E. Pillion: yes
- Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
- Lamont Bagby: yes
- Christopher T. Head: yes
- Lashrecse D. Aird: yes
- Schuyler T. VanValkenburg: yes
- Tara A. Durant: yes
- Stella G. Pekarsky: yes
- Christie New Craig: yes
- Russet Perry: yes
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z
Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:
Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:
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