---
type: "Bill"
title: "Physician assistant; capacity determinations."
description: "Capacity determinations; physician assistant. Expands the class of health care practitioners who can make the determination that a patient is incapable of making informed decisions to include a licensed physician assistant. The bill provides that such determination shall be made in writing following an in-person examination of the person and certified by the physician assistant. This bill is identical to SB 544."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 362"
citation: "Virginia HB 362 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Sam Rasoul"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-02"
last_action: "2020-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5a721b8f-6e43-42c6-b4f5-6078591878db"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB362"
source_hash: "ba36a9eed37e046efafce2d78c509ca8432c8676eb1aae3ca9e4a4d5a903bdad"
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 362 (2020) — Physician assistant; capacity determinations.

Capacity determinations; physician assistant. Expands the class of health care practitioners who can make the determination that a patient is incapable of making informed decisions to include a licensed physician assistant. The bill provides that such determination shall be made in writing following an in-person examination of the person and certified by the physician assistant. This bill is identical to SB 544.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0040)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0040)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB362ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB362ER)
3. **Engrossed by House as amended HB362E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB362E)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB362)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB362)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendments (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Sam Rasoul — primary (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103709D `introduction`
- **2020-01-02** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-13** Impact statement from DPB (HB362)
- **2020-01-17** Assigned HWI sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (6-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-28** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendments (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-31** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-31** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2020-01-31** Engrossed by House as amended HB362E
- **2020-01-31** Printed as engrossed 20103709D-E
- **2020-02-03** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-03** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB362E)
- **2020-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-04** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Enrolled
- **2020-02-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB362ER)
- **2020-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-20** Signed by President
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 24, 2020
- **2020-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 2, 2020
- **2020-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 40 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5a721b8f-6e43-42c6-b4f5-6078591878db`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).