HB 1611 Virginia House of Delegates · 2025 Regular Session

Human Resource Management, Department of; hiring on the basis of direct experience.

Summary

Department of Human Resource Management; hiring on the basis of direct experience. Prohibits any state agency from requiring as a condition of eligibility for hire to a position in state employment that an applicant have a baccalaureate degree. The bill provides an exception to such prohibition if the knowledge, skills, or abilities required for the position for which an applicant is applying can only reasonably be obtained, as determined by the appointing authority, through a course of study in pursuit of, and culminating in the award of, a baccalaureate degree. This bill is identical to SB 1014.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

Signed into Law

Mar 2025

Introduced Jan 3, 2025 Signed Mar 24, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

General Laws Substitute → Chaptered · 1 edit

MINOR

This bill was formally enacted into law as Chapter 475 of the 2025 Virginia Acts of Assembly. The substantive policy content remains unchanged from the House substitute version, establishing that state agencies cannot require a bachelor's degree for hiring unless the job requires knowledge only obtainable through such education.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains unchanged; it applies to state agencies and their hiring practices for state employment positions.

TECHNICAL

The document format changed from a House substitute bill to an officially enacted chapter, including approval date (March 24, 2025) and chapter number (Chapter 475), but the actual policy provisions remain identical.

Introduced → Enrolled · 8 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MODERATE

This bill evolved from an introduced version proposing comprehensive workforce management reforms to an enrolled version that significantly narrowed its scope to focus primarily on eliminating degree requirements for state hiring. The enrolled version removes most of the detailed operational provisions related to training, leave policies, and recruitment procedures that were present in the original bill, retaining only core provisions about direct experience recruitment and degree requirements.

Scope change

The bill's scope was substantially reduced from the introduced version. The enrolled version focuses almost exclusively on hiring practices and degree requirements, removing extensive provisions about employee training, leave policies, performance evaluations, and other HR management functions.

REQUIREMENT

Removed detailed provisions about diversity training, safety training, and employee development programs that were in the introduced version.

Removed provisions related to leave policies, including sick leave substitution, military leave carryover, and nursing mother accommodations.

Removed provisions about performance evaluations, disciplinary actions, and employee awards programs.

Removed provisions about workers' compensation administration and centralized proposal award programs.

Removed provisions about staffing augmentation procurement and safety/disaster awareness training.

ELIGIBILITY

The enrolled version simplified the direct experience recruitment policy to primarily address baccalaureate degree requirements, removing the more detailed baseline requirement framework and degree-to-experience equivalency provisions.

DEFINITION

The enrolled version uses broader language about 'baccalaureate degree' rather than the introduced version's specific breakdown of degree types and corresponding experience years.

ENFORCEMENT

The enrolled version removed the quarterly reporting requirements and Department oversight mechanisms for recruitment policy compliance.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 14, 2025 · House of Delegates Feb 4, 2025

How they voted

36–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 40

Feb 14, 2025

D Democratic21

21 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican19

15 Yea 4

78% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 24, 2025

Signed into law

Approved by Governor-Chapter 475 (Effective 07/01/25)

executive

Feb 22, 2025

Upper · Passed

Signed by President

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

Signed by Speaker

lower

Feb 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1611ER)

lower

Feb 17, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N)

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed by for the day

upper

Feb 12, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported from General Laws and Technology (12-Y 0-N)

upper

Feb 5, 2025

Committee

Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology

upper

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed House (99-Y 0-N)

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N)

lower

Jan 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported from General Laws with substitute (21-Y 0-N)

lower

Jan 27, 2025

Committee

Assigned GL sub: Professions/Occupations and Administrative Process

lower

Jan 3, 2025

Committee

Referred to Committee on General Laws

lower

1 primary · 16 co-sponsors