---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; replaces certain terminology."
description: "Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; replaces certain terminology."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2137"
citation: "Virginia HB 2137 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education", "Health", "Persons with Disabilities"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert M. \"Bob\" Thomas, Jr."]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-01-08"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/77e613f8-47f7-4ce5-b6c7-406cf28ccba9"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2137"
source_hash: "20ae13e561cc13c700c0430a6fb71ae7fbae69ad5352ef0752775b9599b90f09"
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 2137 (2019) — Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; replaces certain terminology.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0288)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0288)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2137AH)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2137ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2137ER)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101301D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2137)
5. **House: Printed as engrossed 19101301D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2137E)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendments — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Robert M. "Bob" Thomas, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101301D `introduction`
- **2019-01-08** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-25** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-01-25** Engrossed by House as amended HB2137E
- **2019-01-25** Printed as engrossed 19101301D-E
- **2019-01-28** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-29** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled
- **2019-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-21** Signed by President
- **2019-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 28, 2019
- **2019-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 288 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/77e613f8-47f7-4ce5-b6c7-406cf28ccba9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).