---
type: "Bill"
title: "Advance directives; persons authorized to provide assistance in completing, training programs."
description: "Defines \"qualified advance directive facilitator\" as a person who has successfully completed a training program approved by the Department of Health for providing assistance in completing and executing a written advance directive; establishes requirements for training programs for qualified advance directive facilitators; and provides that distribution of a form for an advance directive that meets the requirements of § 54.1-2984 and the provision of ministerial assistance to a person with regard to the completion or execution of such form shall not constitute the unauthorized practice of law. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1747"
citation: "Virginia HB 1747 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John M. O'Bannon, III"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2017-01-08"
last_action: "2017-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8b94aeff-bcc0-44ac-9d5c-fb3595651c8a"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1747"
source_hash: "71fc64a41a179fee86e7ce7a49b7e311527abc0535ee90d755b5e08cd6ea6422"
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 1747 (2017) — Advance directives; persons authorized to provide assistance in completing, training programs.

Defines "qualified advance directive facilitator" as a person who has successfully completed a training program approved by the Department of Health for providing assistance in completing and executing a written advance directive; establishes requirements for training programs for qualified advance directive facilitators; and provides that distribution of a form for an advance directive that meets the requirements of § 54.1-2984 and the provision of ministerial assistance to a person with regard to the completion or execution of such form shall not constitute the unauthorized practice of law. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0747)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0747)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1747ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1747ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104443D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1747H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101056D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1747)

## Votes

- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate insisted on amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendment rejected by House — **2–96** (fail) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- John M. O'Bannon, III — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101056D `introduction`
- **2017-01-08** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-12** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-25** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-26** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-26** Committee substitute agreed to 17104443D-H1
- **2017-01-26** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1747H1
- **2017-01-27** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-30** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-30** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-13** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-13** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2017-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-15** Senate amendment rejected by House (2-Y 96-N)
- **2017-02-17** Senate requested conference committee
- **2017-02-20** House acceded to request
- **2017-02-21** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-21** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-23** Amended by conference committee
- **2017-02-23** Conference report agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 747 (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/8b94aeff-bcc0-44ac-9d5c-fb3595651c8a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).