---
type: "Bill"
title: "Hospitals; screening emergency department patients, etc."
description: "Hospitals; emergency treatment for substanceuse-related emergencies; services. Requires the Board of Healthto amend regulations governing hospitals to require each hospitalthat provides emergency treatment to an individual experiencing asubstance use-related emergency to (i) complete a comprehensive assessmentto identify appropriate medical interventions necessary for the treatmentof the individual; (ii) complete a comprehensive behavioral healthassessment to determine whether additional treatment may be appropriate;(iii) initiate pharmacotherapy for treatment of drug or alcohol dependence,where appropriate; and (iv) provide the patient with naloxone orother opioid antagonist used for overdose reversal. Such regulationsshall also require each hospital that provides emergency treatment to an individual experiencing a substance use-related emergencyto establish and implement a protocol for connecting such patientsreceiving emergency treatment with appropriate community-based providersof behavioral health services upon discharge."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 903"
citation: "Virginia SB 903 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jill Holtzman Vogel"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-08"
last_action: "2020-04-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6ce2a097-8ed9-4ea2-b204-3da897a6e107"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB903"
source_hash: "e9180a555fb56cc4137a477e430c74d5022882101770960de4a9b50b64e09e25"
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 903 (2020) — Hospitals; screening emergency department patients, etc.

Hospitals; emergency treatment for substanceuse-related emergencies; services. Requires the Board of Healthto amend regulations governing hospitals to require each hospitalthat provides emergency treatment to an individual experiencing asubstance use-related emergency to (i) complete a comprehensive assessmentto identify appropriate medical interventions necessary for the treatmentof the individual; (ii) complete a comprehensive behavioral healthassessment to determine whether additional treatment may be appropriate;(iii) initiate pharmacotherapy for treatment of drug or alcohol dependence,where appropriate; and (iv) provide the patient with naloxone orother opioid antagonist used for overdose reversal. Such regulationsshall also require each hospital that provides emergency treatment to an individual experiencing a substance use-related emergencyto establish and implement a protocol for connecting such patientsreceiving emergency treatment with appropriate community-based providersof behavioral health services upon discharge.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0942)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0942)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB903ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB903ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB903)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB903)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB903S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB903S1)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N) — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (21-Y 1-N) — **21–1** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jill Holtzman Vogel — primary (person)
- Chris Collins-Resigned 6/28/20 — cosponsor (person)
- Dave A. LaRock — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-08** Presented and ordered printed 20100720D `introduction`
- **2020-01-08** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB903)
- **2020-01-17** Assigned Education sub: Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-23** Committee substitute printed 20106163D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB903S1)
- **2020-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-01-27** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-01-27** Committee substitute agreed to 20106163D-S1
- **2020-01-27** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB903S1
- **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`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned HWI sub: Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-25** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-28** Passed House (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-28** VOTE: Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB903ER)
- **2020-03-06** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-07** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-09** Approved by Governor-Chapter 942 (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/6ce2a097-8ed9-4ea2-b204-3da897a6e107`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).