---
type: "Bill"
title: "Physical therapy; extends time allowed for a therapist to evaluate and treat patients."
description: "Department of Health Professions; practice ofphysical therapy. Extends from 30 days to 60 days the time allowedfor a physical therapist who has completed a doctor of physical therapyprogram approved by the Commission on Accreditation of Physical TherapyEducation or who has obtained a certificate of authorization to evaluate and treat patients after an initial evaluation without areferral under certain circumstances. The bill also provides thatafter discharging a patient a physical therapist shall not performan initial evaluation of a patient without a referral if the physicaltherapist has performed an initial evaluation of the patient forthe same condition within the immediately preceding 60 days."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1187"
citation: "Virginia SB 1187 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ghazala F. Hashmi"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-01-10"
last_action: "2021-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02486e15-559e-4b11-afc5-77162ba4eb1e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1187"
source_hash: "63b299767468aa223761c23cb5ee1c33356e57804ce1e5c26871356aef214190"
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 1187 (2021) — Physical therapy; extends time allowed for a therapist to evaluate and treat patients.

Department of Health Professions; practice ofphysical therapy. Extends from 30 days to 60 days the time allowedfor a physical therapist who has completed a doctor of physical therapyprogram approved by the Commission on Accreditation of Physical TherapyEducation or who has obtained a certificate of authorization to evaluate and treat patients after an initial evaluation without areferral under certain circumstances. The bill also provides thatafter discharging a patient a physical therapist shall not performan initial evaluation of a patient without a referral if the physicaltherapist has performed an initial evaluation of the patient forthe same condition within the immediately preceding 60 days.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0481** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0481)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101168D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1187)
3. **SB1187ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1187ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Health, Welfare and Institutions — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ghazala F. Hashmi — primary (person)
- Jennifer A. Kiggans — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101168D `introduction`
- **2021-01-10** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-13** Impact statement from DPB (SB1187)
- **2021-01-13** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-21** Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-22** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-25** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-01-26** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-02** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Health, Welfare and Institutions
- **2021-02-11** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-15** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-16** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-16** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-19** Enrolled
- **2021-02-19** Impact statement from DPB (SB1187ER)
- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
- **2021-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-24** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 24, 2021
- **2021-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-31** Approved by Governor-Chapter 481 (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/02486e15-559e-4b11-afc5-77162ba4eb1e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).