# Virginia SB134: Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report. Virginia SB134, Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report., is a 2026 Regular Session Senate bill sponsored by Mamie E. Locke (Democratic); status signed, last action 2026-04-08 (Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0457)); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-12). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB134-2026 - As of: 2026-10-12 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Virginia SB134 - State: Virginia - Session: 2026 Regular Session - Title: Public education; early childhood care and education, child care access calculations, report. - Status: signed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2026-01-06 - Last action: 2026-04-08, Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0457) - Sponsor: Mamie E. Locke (Democratic) - Cosponsors: 0 - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 13 (387 yes, 54 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 4 ## Summary Public education; early childhood care and education; child care access calculations; report. Requires the Department of Education to establish and maintain calculations for the provision of early childhood care and education services based on cost of quality rate per child, actual data from the prior year, an estimate of parental demand and choice preferences based on historic growth trends and current eligibility criteria, and an estimate of the number of slots to be added to support local or regional economic development efforts and public-private partnerships focused on increasing the supply of child care services, giving priority to localities or regions identified as child care deserts, as determined by the Department. The bill also contains several provisions relating to the use and appropriation of funds as applicable to such calculations, including (i) providing that the calculations shall not obligate the General Assembly to a specific appropriation, (ii) requiring the calculations to be used to provide information to guide the General Assembly in making decisions about the proportion of parental demand for and supply of early childhood care and education services to be addressed and level of appropriation required to address such demand, and (iii) providing that the annual overall funding available for slots shall be subject to appropriation as determined by the General Assembly. The bill also provides that if waitlists for slots at early childhood care and education sites remain, up to $5 million from prior-year unexpended state general funds appropriated for such purpose in a general appropriation act may be carried forward to the current fiscal year to temporarily provide additional slots during the current fiscal year solely to reduce or eliminate waitlists, unless the general appropriation act authorizes a greater amount to be carried forward and that such prior-year funds shall not be used to increase the base amount of funding required in the subsequent fiscal year and the Department shall monitor program utilization and attrition to ensure that no families will lose access at the end of the current fiscal year. Finally, the bill requires the Department to annually submit to the Commission on Early Childhood Care and Education and post on its website a report on the data used to calculate the minimum funding and number of slots for the calculations in accordance with the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to HB 1208. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - More child care help for families: benefit, medium. Virginia's Child Care Subsidy Program is open to each child under age 13 in qualifying families. Family income must be at or below 85 percent of Virginia's median income. The family must include at least one child age five or younger who has not started kindergarten. Families must also meet all oth… - Temporary child care slots for waitlisted families: benefit, low. The Department must first spend all current-year state general funds approved for child care slots. When waitlists remain, it can use up to $5 million in unused prior-year state funds approved for this purpose. This money funds temporary extra slots; a state budget law can allow more than $5 millio… - Child care slots follow families' needs: benefit, low. By May 15 each year, regional groups report needed Mixed Delivery slots, school divisions report preschool slots, and localities report subsidy slots. Requests cover the upcoming year and reflect parental demand and program goals. The Department calculates extra needs for regions with economic deve… - Connected early childhood services for Virginia families: benefit, low. The law creates a statewide public-private early childhood system led by Virginia's education board, superintendent, and Department of Education. It connects school-based, licensed, and unlicensed programs to help children enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. Families get coordinated refe… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Mamie E. Locke (Democratic), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2026-03-14 | Senate | Conference report agreed to by Senate | pass | 39 | 0 | | | 2026-03-14 | House | Conference report agreed to by House | pass | 85 | 12 | | | 2026-03-04 | Senate | Senate acceded to request Block Vote | pass | 40 | 0 | | | 2026-02-27 | Senate | House substitute rejected by Senate | fail | 0 | 39 | | | 2026-02-25 | House | Passed House with substitute | pass | 93 | 3 | | | 2026-02-20 | House | Reported from Appropriations with substitute | pass | 22 | 0 | | | 2026-02-13 | Senate | Read third time and passed Senate Block Vote | pass | 39 | 0 | | | 2026-02-12 | Senate | Finance and Appropriations Substitute agreed to | pass | 0 | 0 | | | 2026-02-12 | Senate | Education and Health Substitute rejected | pass | 0 | 0 | | | 2026-02-11 | Senate | Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) | pass | 0 | 0 | | | 2026-02-11 | Senate | Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) | pass | 40 | 0 | | | 2026-02-10 | Senate | Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute | pass | 15 | 0 | | | 2026-01-22 | Senate | Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations | pass | 14 | 0 | | ## Actions (52) - 2026-04-08: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0457) (Governor) - 2026-04-08: Approved by Governor-Chapter 457 (effective 7/1/2026) (Governor) - 2026-03-31: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB134) (Senate) - 2026-03-31: Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 (Governor) - 2026-03-31: Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 (Senate) - 2026-03-31: Signed by Speaker (House) - 2026-03-30: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB134ER) (Senate) - 2026-03-30: Enrolled (Senate) - 2026-03-30: Signed by President (Senate) - 2026-03-14: Conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-03-14: Conference report agreed to by House (85-Y 12-N 0-A) (House) - 2026-03-14: Conference Report released - 2026-03-10: House Conferees: Sewell, Askew, Kent (House) - 2026-03-10: Conferees appointed by House (House) - 2026-03-04: Senate acceded to request Block Vote (40-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-03-04: Senate Conferees: Locke, Favola, Pillion (Senate) - 2026-03-04: Conferees appointed by Senate (Senate) - 2026-03-02: House requested conference committee (House) - 2026-03-02: House insisted on substitute (House) - 2026-02-27: House substitute rejected by Senate (Senate) - 2026-02-25: Passed House with substitute (93-Y 3-N 0-A) (House) - 2026-02-25: Engrossed by House - committee substitute (House) - 2026-02-25: committee substitute agreed to (House) - 2026-02-25: Read third time (House) - 2026-02-25: Moved from Uncontested Calendar to Regular Calendar (House) - 2026-02-24: Read second time (House) - 2026-02-23: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB134) (Senate) - 2026-02-20: Reported from Appropriations with substitute (22-Y 0-N) (House) - 2026-02-20: Committee substitute printed 26108283D-H1 (House) - 2026-02-18: Assigned HAPP sub: Elementary & Secondary Education (House) - 2026-02-18: Referred to Committee on Appropriations (House) - 2026-02-18: Read first time (House) - 2026-02-18: Placed on Calendar (House) - 2026-02-13: Read third time and passed Senate Block Vote (39-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-02-12: Finance and Appropriations Substitute agreed to (Senate) - 2026-02-12: Education and Health Substitute rejected (Senate) - 2026-02-12: Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute Block Vote (Voice Vote) (Senate) - 2026-02-12: Read second time (Senate) - 2026-02-11: Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) (Senate) - 2026-02-11: Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) (Senate) - 2026-02-11: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB134) (Senate) - 2026-02-11: Committee substitute printed 26107527D-S2 (Senate) - 2026-02-11: Rules suspended (Senate) - 2026-02-10: Reported from Finance and Appropriations with substitute (15-Y 0-N) (Senate) - 2026-02-03: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB134) (Senate) - 2026-01-30: Committee substitute printed 26105480D-S1 (Senate) - 2026-01-22: Senate committee offered (Senate) - 2026-01-22: Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N) (Senate) - 2026-01-15: Assigned Education sub: Public Education (Senate) - 2026-01-15: Senate subcommittee offered (Senate) - 2026-01-06: Referred to Committee on Education and Health (Senate) - 2026-01-06: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102085D (Senate) ## Bill text - Chaptered, 2026-04-08: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217939.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217938.PDF) - Enrolled, 2026-03-30: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214294.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214293.PDF) - Conference Report, 2026-03-14: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211592.HTML) - Substitute, 2026-03-14: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211589.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211588.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-02-20: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1171483.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1171482.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-02-11: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139520.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139519.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-01-30: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1104999.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1104998.PDF) - Substitute, 2026-01-22: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1088984.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1088983.PDF) - Introduced, 2026-01-06: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1082972.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1082971.PDF) ## Related bills - HB5: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties. (signed) - SB199: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties. (signed) - HB95: Va. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies, noncompliance with rental agreement. (signed) - HB1393: Electric utilities; pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for certain individuals. (signed) - HB834: Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; fire or casualty damage, termination by landlord. (signed) - HB675: Protection of employees; coercion or threat based on immigration status, civil penalty. (signed) ## Sources - [Chaptered (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217939.HTML) - [Chaptered (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1217938.PDF) - [Enrolled (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214294.HTML) - [Enrolled (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1214293.PDF) - [Conference Report (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211592.HTML) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211589.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1211588.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1171483.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1171482.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139520.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139519.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1104999.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1104998.PDF) - [Substitute (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1088984.HTML) - [Substitute (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1088983.PDF) - [Introduced (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1082972.HTML) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1082971.PDF) ## Related - [HB5: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB5-2026) - [SB199: Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB199-2026) - [HB95: Va. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies, noncompliance with…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB95-2026) - [HB1393: Electric utilities; pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1393-2026) - [HB834: Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; fire or casualty damage, terminat…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB834-2026) - [HB675: Protection of employees; coercion or threat based on immigration status, civil…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB675-2026) - [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-SB134-2026 (as of 2026-10-12).