---
type: "Bill"
title: "Competency to stand trial; order for evaluation or treatment."
description: "Competency to stand trial; order for evaluation or treatment; copy to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Provides that whenever a court orders an evaluation of a defendant's competency to stand trial, the clerk of the court shall provide a copy of the order to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. This bill is identical to SB 691."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 738"
citation: "Virginia HB 738 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert B. Bell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c1b4342d-12f0-4b7e-919e-37eec061800c"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB738"
source_hash: "12cfc7319b00f3b63c0edce3ba0b77c83db976ead3e37829474ea14d240ae3b1"
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 738 (2022) — Competency to stand trial; order for evaluation or treatment.

Competency to stand trial; order for evaluation or treatment; copy to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Provides that whenever a court orders an evaluation of a defendant's competency to stand trial, the clerk of the court shall provide a copy of the order to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. This bill is identical to SB 691.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0075** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0075)
2. **HB738ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB738ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101063D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB738)

## Votes

- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage #2 (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 0-N) — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary (10-Y 0-N) — **10–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Robert B. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22101063D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB738)
- **2022-01-22** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-28** Reported from Courts of Justice (18-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-01** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-02** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-02-03** Read third time and passed House Block Vote (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-03** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-03** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2022-02-03** Passed House (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-03** VOTE: Passage #2 (100-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-04** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-16** Reported from Judiciary (10-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-21** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-23** Enrolled
- **2022-02-23** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-02-23** Signed by President
- **2022-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (HB738ER)
- **2022-03-09** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 9, 2022
- **2022-03-09** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-01** Approved by Governor-Chapter 75 (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/c1b4342d-12f0-4b7e-919e-37eec061800c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).