---
type: "Bill"
title: "Nurse practitioners; practice without a practice agreement."
description: "Nurse practitioners; practice without a practice agreement. Reduces from five to two the number of years of full-time clinical experience a nurse practitioner must have to be eligible to practice without a written or electronic practice agreement. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2022."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1737"
citation: "Virginia HB 1737 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dawn M. Adams"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-10-27"
last_action: "2021-02-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ae1d0c25-43ac-4d9d-ab12-07d68426895e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1737"
source_hash: "685808fedf0dbf5a9ef997aceeeae9521b96648b7acc6ef6312c64e2ab662f87"
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 1737 (2021) — Nurse practitioners; practice without a practice agreement.

Nurse practitioners; practice without a practice agreement. Reduces from five to two the number of years of full-time clinical experience a nurse practitioner must have to be eligible to practice without a written or electronic practice agreement. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2022.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0001** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0001)
2. **HB1737ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1737ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100242D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1737)
4. **Printed as engrossed 21100242D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1737E)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (12-Y 10-N) — **12–10** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N 2-A) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (76-Y 22-N) — **75–22** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dawn M. Adams — primary (person)
- Amanda E. Batten — cosponsor (person)
- Carrie E. Coyner — cosponsor (person)
- Chris L. Hurst — cosponsor (person)
- Clinton L. Jenkins — cosponsor (person)
- David L. Bulova — cosponsor (person)
- David W. Marsden — cosponsor (person)
- Delores L. McQuinn — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
- G. "John" Avoli — cosponsor (person)
- Hala S. Ayala — cosponsor (person)
- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer B. Boysko — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
- Lee J. Carter — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Mark J. Peake — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Nancy D. Guy — cosponsor (person)
- Nicholas J. Freitas — cosponsor (person)
- R. Creigh Deeds — cosponsor (person)
- Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Roxann L. Robinson — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)
- Vivian E. Watts — cosponsor (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-10-27** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100242D `introduction`
- **2020-10-27** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-07** Impact statement from DPB (HB1737)
- **2021-01-13** Assigned HWI sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-26** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (12-Y 10-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-26** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-27** Passed by for the day
- **2021-01-28** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-28** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-28** Amendments by Delegate Adams, D.M. agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2021-01-28** Engrossed by House as amended HB1737E
- **2021-01-28** Printed as engrossed 21100242D-E
- **2021-01-29** Impact statement from DPB (HB1737E)
- **2021-01-29** Read third time and passed House (76-Y 22-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-29** VOTE: Passage (76-Y 22-N)
- **2021-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-01** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-11** Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N 2-A) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-12** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-15** Passed by temporarily
- **2021-02-15** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-17** Enrolled
- **2021-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB1737ER)
- **2021-02-17** Signed by President
- **2021-02-18** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-19** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 19, 2021
- **2021-02-19** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., February 26, 2021
- **2021-02-25** Approved by Governor-Chapter 1 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ae1d0c25-43ac-4d9d-ab12-07d68426895e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).