Bill Commons

VA HB 686

Status unknown

Open school enrollment policies; guidance on best practices available to school boards.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower

Quick answers

Did VA HB 686 pass?

The current status of VA HB 686 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-03-05): Passed by indefinitely in Education and Health (9-Y 6-N)

What is VA HB 686 about?

Department of Education; open school enrollment policies; guidance on best practices. Requires the Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board guidance on best practices relating to open school enrollment.

Who sponsors VA HB 686?

Eric R. Zehr is the primary sponsor of VA HB 686.

Description

Department of Education; open school enrollment policies; guidance on best practices. Requires the Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board guidance on best practices relating to open school enrollment.

Introduced
2026-01-13
Latest action
2026-03-05 — Passed by indefinitely in Education and Health (9-Y 6-N)
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Eric R. Zehrprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-13

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103148D

    filing,introduction

  2. 2026-01-13

    Referred to Committee on Education

    referral-committee

  3. 2026-01-30

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB686)

  4. 2026-02-05

    Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee

    referral-committee

  5. 2026-02-10

    Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 4-N)

    substitution

  6. 2026-02-11

    Reported from Education with substitute (18-Y 3-N)

    committee-passage

  7. 2026-02-11

    Committee substitute printed 26107695D-H1

    substitution

  8. 2026-02-12

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB686)

  9. 2026-02-13

    Read first time

    reading-1

  10. 2026-02-16

    Read second time

    reading-2

  11. 2026-02-16

    committee substitute agreed to

    substitution

  12. 2026-02-16

    Engrossed by House - committee substitute

    substitution

  13. 2026-02-17

    Read third time and passed House (85-Y 11-N 0-A)

    passage,reading-3

  14. 2026-02-18

    Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)

  15. 2026-02-18

    Referred to Committee on Education and Health

    referral-committee

  16. 2026-02-26

    Assigned Education sub: Public Education

    referral-committee

  17. 2026-03-05

    Passed by indefinitely in Education and Health (9-Y 6-N)

    deferral

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute

    2026-02-10 · pass · 6-4

    Member-level votes (11)
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: not voting
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: no
    • Jessica L. Anderson: no
    • Lindsey Dougherty: no
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: yes
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: yes
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: no
    • Sam Rasoul: yes

  • Reported from Education with substitute

    2026-02-11 · pass · 18-3

    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: no
    • Nadarius E. Clark: no
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • Amy J. Laufer: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: no
    • Jessica L. Anderson: yes
    • Lindsey Dougherty: yes
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: yes
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: yes
    • Phillip A. Scott: yes
    • Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: yes
    • Eric R. Zehr: yes
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: yes
    • Madison Whittle: yes

  • H VOTE:

    2026-02-17 · pass · 84-11

    Member-level votes (99)
    • Jessica L. Anderson: yes
    • Bonita G. Anthony: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: no
    • Terry L. Austin: yes
    • Jason S. Ballard: yes
    • Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.: yes
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Katrina Callsen: yes
    • R. Lee Ware: yes
    • Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie: yes
    • Betsy B. Carr: yes
    • Stacey Annie Carroll: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: yes
    • Nadarius E. Clark: not voting
    • Laura Jane Cohen: no
    • Joshua G. Cole: yes
    • Nicole Cole: yes
    • Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
    • Mitchell Cornett: yes
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Will Davis: yes
    • Karrie K. Delaney: yes
    • Lindsey Dougherty: yes
    • Mark C. Downey: yes
    • Michael B. Feggans: not voting
    • Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr.: yes
    • 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: yes
    • C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr.: yes
    • Dan I. Helmer: yes
    • Rozia A. Henson, Jr.: yes
    • Phil M. Hernandez: yes
    • Charniele L. Herring: yes
    • M. Keith Hodges: yes
    • Patrick A. Hope: yes
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: yes
    • Karen Keys-Gamarra: no
    • Terry G. Kilgore: yes
    • Barry D. Knight: not voting
    • Paul E. Krizek: yes
    • Amy J. Laufer: yes
    • James A. "Jay" Leftwich: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: no
    • Alfonso H. Lopez: yes
    • Michelle Lopes Maldonado: yes
    • Marty Martinez: yes
    • John Chilton McAuliff: not voting
    • Adele Y. McClure: yes
    • Garrett McGuire: no
    • Ellen H. McLaughlin: yes
    • Joseph P. McNamara: yes
    • Delores L. McQuinn: yes
    • Leslie Chambers Mehta: yes
    • James W. Morefield: yes
    • May Nivar: yes
    • Delores Oates: yes
    • Israel D. O'Quinn: yes
    • Justin Pence: yes
    • Eric Phillips: yes
    • Kimberly Pope Adams: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: no
    • Sam Rasoul: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • David A. Reid: yes
    • Chris S. Runion: yes
    • Charlie Schmidt: yes
    • Don Scott: yes
    • Phillip A. Scott: yes
    • Holly M. Seibold: yes
    • Briana D. Sewell: no
    • Irene Shin: yes
    • Marcus B. Simon: yes
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • JJ Singh: yes
    • Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr.: yes
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: yes
    • Joshua E. Thomas: yes
    • Virgil Thornton: yes
    • Luke E. Torian: no
    • Kathy K.L. Tran: no
    • H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr.: yes
    • Wendell S. Walker: yes
    • Jeion A. Ward: yes
    • Vivian E. Watts: yes
    • Michael J. Webert: yes
    • Madison Whittle: yes
    • Bill Wiley: yes
    • Rodney T. Willett: yes
    • Wren M. Williams: yes
    • Tony O. Wilt: yes
    • Thomas C. Wright, Jr.: yes
    • Scott A. Wyatt: yes
    • Eric R. Zehr: yes

  • Passed by indefinitely in Education and Health

    2026-03-05 · pass · 9-6

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Barbara A. Favola: yes
    • L. Louise Lucas: yes
    • Mamie E. Locke: yes
    • David R. Suetterlein: no
    • Mark J. Peake: no
    • Todd E. Pillion: no
    • Jennifer B. Boysko: yes
    • Lamont Bagby: yes
    • Christopher T. Head: no
    • Lashrecse D. Aird: yes
    • Schuyler T. VanValkenburg: yes
    • Tara A. Durant: no
    • Stella G. Pekarsky: yes
    • Christie New Craig: no
    • Russet Perry: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB686

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Source and document changesStatus and relationship changes

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