---
type: "Bill"
title: "Nurse practitioner as expert witness; scope of activities."
description: "References the specific Code section outlining the scope of a nurse practitioner's activities in the context of the current provision that authorizes a nurse practitioner to testify as an expert witness within the scope of his activities."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1609"
citation: "Virginia HB 1609 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies and Procedure", "Criminal Procedure", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James A. \"Jay\" Leftwich"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-01-03"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/807b3c4b-271b-4920-a574-71e5a762c306"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1609"
source_hash: "5ef5ccec33e0bf0e61227ebbb9090986f6d1444059f4a348e28763233679c2fa"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1609 (2017) — Nurse practitioner as expert witness; scope of activities.

References the specific Code section outlining the scope of a nurse practitioner's activities in the context of the current provision that authorizes a nurse practitioner to testify as an expert witness within the scope of his activities.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0413)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0413)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1609ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1609ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101624D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1609)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- James A. "Jay" Leftwich — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101624D `introduction`
- **2017-01-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-01** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-02** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-23** Enrolled
- **2017-02-23** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 413 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/807b3c4b-271b-4920-a574-71e5a762c306`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).