---
type: "Bill"
title: "Nurse practitioners; authorized to declare death and determine cause of death."
description: "Nurse practitioners; declaration of death andcause of death. Authorizes autonomous nurse practitioners, definedin the bill, to declare death and determine cause of death; allowsnurse practitioners who are not autonomous nurse practitioners topronounce the death of a patient in certain circumstances; and eliminatesthe requirement for a valid Do Not Resuscitate Order for the deceasedpatient for declaration of death by a registered nurse, physicianassistant, or nurse practitioner who is not an autonomous nurse practitioner."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 286"
citation: "Virginia HB 286 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dawn M. Adams"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9e23494e-3fa8-4a45-85a6-32cbe816392e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB286"
source_hash: "0d9a96b8cf4779d4d2484b7412307fcc328f543e7bb693a5e3a0e241616d3353"
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 286 (2022) — Nurse practitioners; authorized to declare death and determine cause of death.

Nurse practitioners; declaration of death andcause of death. Authorizes autonomous nurse practitioners, definedin the bill, to declare death and determine cause of death; allowsnurse practitioners who are not autonomous nurse practitioners topronounce the death of a patient in certain circumstances; and eliminatesthe requirement for a valid Do Not Resuscitate Order for the deceasedpatient for declaration of death by a registered nurse, physicianassistant, or nurse practitioner who is not an autonomous nurse practitioner.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0184** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0184)
2. **HB286ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB286ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103683D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB286)
4. **Printed as engrossed 22103683D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB286E)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (9-Y 0-N) — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dawn M. Adams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103683D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-17** Impact statement from DPB (HB286)
- **2022-01-18** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-25** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (9-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-27** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-27** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-01-27** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-01** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2022-02-01** Engrossed by House as amended HB286E
- **2022-02-01** Printed as engrossed 22103683D-E
- **2022-02-02** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB286E)
- **2022-02-02** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-03** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-16** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-24** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-25** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-28** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-02** Enrolled
- **2022-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB286ER)
- **2022-03-03** Signed by President
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-07** Approved by Governor-Chapter 184 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9e23494e-3fa8-4a45-85a6-32cbe816392e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).