SB 151 Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Health Ed. SOL & Curriculum Framework; Board of Education to include water safety instruction.

Summary

Board of Education; Health Standards of Learning; water safety. Requires the Board of Education, during its next regularly scheduled revision of the Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework, to develop and make available to each school board guidelines for a program of instruction on water safety to be provided as a part of any health education instruction provided to elementary school students. This bill is identical to HB 705.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Mar 2026

Signed into Law

Apr 2026

Introduced Jan 7, 2026 Signed Apr 6, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

Enrolled → Chaptered · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was finalized and assigned Chapter 205 in the Virginia Acts of Assembly. The substantive content regarding the requirement for the Board of Education to include water safety instruction in health education standards remains unchanged from the enrolled version.

Scope change

The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; the text continues to require water safety instruction for elementary school students.

TECHNICAL

Added the specific chapter number (Chapter 205) to the official title.

Added the specific approval date (April 6, 2026) to the official title.

Removed the generic 'SESSION' and 'ENROLLED' headers, as they are now incorporated into the chapter title and date.

Floor votes · Senate Jan 23, 2026 · House of Delegates Mar 2, 2026

How they voted

38–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 39

Jan 23, 2026

D Democratic20

20 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican19

18 Yea 1

94% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 6, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor-Chapter 205 (effective 7/1/2026)

executive

Mar 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Signed by President

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Lower · Passed

Signed by Speaker

lower

Mar 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB151ER)

upper

Mar 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed House with substitute (82-Y 17-N 0-A)

lower

Feb 25, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported from Education with substitute (17-Y 5-N)

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Committee

Referred to Committee on Education

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N 0-A)

upper

Jan 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by for the day

upper

Jan 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)

upper

Jan 22, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N)

upper

Jan 15, 2026

Committee

Assigned Education sub: Public Education

upper

Jan 7, 2026

Committee

Referred to Committee on Education and Health

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors