---
type: "Bill"
title: "Drug Control Act; adds certain chemicals to Schedule I of Act."
description: "Drug Control Act; Schedule I. Adds certain chemicals to Schedule I of the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances to Schedule I in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the schedule. This bill is identical to HB 1263."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 538"
citation: "Virginia SB 538 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stephen D. Newman"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f72eae38-ed77-4b4f-a1d0-c41c3f61030b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB538"
source_hash: "a15d06603ddcaf35b9b7c28137652f87e39e680f64e4d1a6ce50d4362f511919"
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 538 (2020) — Drug Control Act; adds certain chemicals to Schedule I of Act.

Drug Control Act; Schedule I. Adds certain chemicals to Schedule I of the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances to Schedule I in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the schedule. This bill is identical to HB 1263.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0229)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0229)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB538ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB538ER)
3. **Impact statement from VCSC (SB538)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB538)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stephen D. Newman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102765D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-08** Impact statement from VCSC (SB538)
- **2020-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (SB538)
- **2020-01-16** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-28** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-26** Enrolled
- **2020-02-26** Impact statement from DPB (SB538ER)
- **2020-02-27** Signed by President
- **2020-02-27** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-04** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 4, 2020
- **2020-03-04** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 11, 2020
- **2020-03-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 229 (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/f72eae38-ed77-4b4f-a1d0-c41c3f61030b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).