---
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: "SB 1242"
citation: "Virginia SB 1242 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Siobhan S. Dunnavant"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/662059f1-e3ac-4a0e-9fe2-4cf9a869a9db"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1242"
source_hash: "617d87b9e2a343b53a0eeba8ae6a837cc90428e15fcd4f17a99084b48a169e4b"
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 SB 1242 (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 (CHAP0752)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0752)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1242ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1242ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103840D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1242)
4. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17103840D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1242E)

## Votes

- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendments — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with amendments — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **38–0** (pass) · legislature
- House amendments agreed to by Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Siobhan S. Dunnavant — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103840D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-23** Reading of amendments waived
- **2017-01-23** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-01-23** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1242E
- **2017-01-23** Printed as engrossed 17103840D-E
- **2017-01-31** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-31** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-13** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2017-02-13** Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 752 (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/662059f1-e3ac-4a0e-9fe2-4cf9a869a9db`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).