# Virginia HB495: School boards; mental health awareness training for full-time school bus drivers. Virginia HB495, School boards; mental health awareness training for full-time school bus drivers., is a 2027 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Elizabeth R. Guzman (Democratic); status passed house, last action 2026-07-21 (Continued from last session) (as of 2026-10-13). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB495-2027 - As of: 2026-10-13 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Virginia HB495 - State: Virginia - Session: 2027 Regular Session - Title: School boards; mental health awareness training for full-time school bus drivers. - Status: passed house - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2026-01-12 - Last action: 2026-07-21, Continued from last session - Sponsor: Elizabeth R. Guzman (Democratic) - Cosponsors: 0 - Subjects: Public Education - Touches household money: no - Economic provisions PRIA read: 0 ## Summary 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. ## Bill overview No economic impacts identified for this bill. ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Elizabeth R. Guzman (Democratic), House ## Actions (20) - 2026-07-21: Continued from last session (Senate) - 2026-03-05: Continued to 2027 in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) (Senate) - 2026-02-26: Assigned Education sub: Public Education (Senate) - 2026-02-18: Referred to Committee on Education and Health (Senate) - 2026-02-18: Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (Senate) - 2026-02-17: Read third time and passed House (62-Y 34-N 0-A) (House) - 2026-02-16: Engrossed by House - committee substitute (House) - 2026-02-16: committee substitute agreed to (House) - 2026-02-16: Read second time (House) - 2026-02-13: Read first time (House) - 2026-02-12: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB495) (House) - 2026-02-11: Committee substitute printed 26107573D-H1 (House) - 2026-02-11: House committee offered (House) - 2026-02-11: Reported from Education with substitute (14-Y 7-N) (House) - 2026-02-03: House subcommittee offered (House) - 2026-02-03: Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute and referring to Appropriations (7-Y 3-N) (House) - 2026-01-30: Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee (House) - 2026-01-29: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB495) (House) - 2026-01-12: Referred to Committee on Education (House) - 2026-01-12: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102869D (House) ## Bill text - Substitute, 2026-02-11: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1229875.HTML), [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1230344.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1229874.PDF), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1230343.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-02-03: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231456.HTML), [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1228739.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1228738.PDF), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231455.PDF) - Introduced, 2026-01-12: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231129.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231128.PDF) ## Related bills - SB844: Licensed clinical psychologists; prescriptive authority, report. (in committee) - HB1535: Individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities; admissibility of statements. (introduced) - HB1534: School service providers; deletion of student and family personal information. (introduced) - SB843: Data centers; state permitting, local approval, moratorium, sunset. (in committee) - SB842: High school student athletes; eligibility, enrollment. (in committee) - SB840: Corrections, Director of the Department of; placement of inmates, Red Onion State Prison. (in committee) ## Sources - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1229875.HTML) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1230344.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1229874.PDF) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1230343.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231456.HTML) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1228739.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1228738.PDF) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231455.PDF) - [Introduced (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231129.HTML) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1231128.PDF) ## Related - [SB844: Licensed clinical psychologists; prescriptive authority, report.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB844-2027) - [HB1535: Individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities; admissibility of s…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1535-2027) - [HB1534: School service providers; deletion of student and family personal information.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1534-2027) - [SB843: Data centers; state permitting, local approval, moratorium, sunset.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB843-2027) - [SB842: High school student athletes; eligibility, enrollment.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB842-2027) - [SB840: Corrections, Director of the Department of; placement of inmates, Red Onion Sta…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB840-2027) - [Virginia bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia/bills) - [Virginia state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB495-2027 (as of 2026-10-13).