---
type: "Bill"
title: "Home hospice programs; disposal of drugs."
description: "Requires every hospice to develop policies and procedures for the disposal of drugs dispensed as part of the hospice plan of care for a patient, which shall include requirements that such disposal be (i) performed in a manner that complies with all state and federal requirements for the safe disposal of drugs by a licensed nurse, physician assistant, or physician who is employed by or has entered into a contract with the hospice program; (ii) witnessed by a member of the patient's family or a second employee of the hospice program who is licensed by a health regulatory board within the Department of Health Professions; and (iii) documented in the patient's medical record."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 501"
citation: "Virginia HB 501 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health", "Narcotics and Drugs", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["M. Keith Hodges"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-01-08"
last_action: "2018-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ee8bb027-3f47-4945-b2c1-19d2ea845719"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB501"
source_hash: "67aa43c90ee6bf8642c9771e76e54237cdcf5e6aba785808f6c23f472798f3fe"
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 501 (2018) — Home hospice programs; disposal of drugs.

Requires every hospice to develop policies and procedures for the disposal of drugs dispensed as part of the hospice plan of care for a patient, which shall include requirements that such disposal be (i) performed in a manner that complies with all state and federal requirements for the safe disposal of drugs by a licensed nurse, physician assistant, or physician who is employed by or has entered into a contract with the hospice program; (ii) witnessed by a member of the patient's family or a second employee of the hospice program who is licensed by a health regulatory board within the Department of Health Professions; and (iii) documented in the patient's medical record.

## Version chain

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

1. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB501ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB501ER)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 18105770D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB501H1)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102626D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB501)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **38–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- M. Keith Hodges — primary (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102626D `introduction`
- **2018-01-08** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-25** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-01-26** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-01-26** Committee substitute agreed to 18105770D-H1
- **2018-01-26** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB501H1
- **2018-01-29** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-01-30** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-01-30** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-09** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-21** Enrolled
- **2018-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-23** Signed by President
- **2018-02-26** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 26, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 5, 2018
- **2018-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 95 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ee8bb027-3f47-4945-b2c1-19d2ea845719`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).