---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public health emergencies; expands immunity for health care providers."
description: "Public health emergencies; immunity for health care providers; emergency. Expands immunity provided to health care providers responding to a disaster to include actions or omissions taken by the provider as directed by any order of public health in response to such disaster when a local emergency, state of emergency, or public health emergency has been declared. The bill contains an emergency clause."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 148"
citation: "Virginia SB 148 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Thomas K. Norment, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 38
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-09"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8da1786c-9248-44ea-a9f4-e9c70442f4cd"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB148"
source_hash: "ae91d355e7831a782b45daa2e17591c039718a497e348f84b3a59db00a111f15"
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 148 (2022) — Public health emergencies; expands immunity for health care providers.

Public health emergencies; immunity for health care providers; emergency. Expands immunity provided to health care providers responding to a disaster to include actions or omissions taken by the provider as directed by any order of public health in response to such disaster when a local emergency, state of emergency, or public health emergency has been declared. The bill contains an emergency clause.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0617** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0617)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22106420D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB148S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22102585D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB148)
4. **SB148ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB148ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- House amendments agreed to by Senate (36-Y 3-N) — **36–3** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (14-Y 5-N) — **14–5** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (11-Y 3-N) — **11–3** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (73-Y 24-N) — **72–24** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 4-N) — **36–4** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Thomas K. Norment, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22102585D `introduction`
- **2022-01-09** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-17** Impact statement from DPB (SB148)
- **2022-02-09** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-09** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (11-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-09** Committee substitute printed 22106420D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-11** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-11** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-02-11** Committee substitute agreed to 22106420D-S1
- **2022-02-11** Emergency clause added
- **2022-02-11** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB148S1
- **2022-02-14** Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 4-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-17** Impact statement from DPB (SB148S1)
- **2022-02-22** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-22** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
- **2022-02-25** Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment(s) (14-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-28** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-01** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-02** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2022-03-02** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2022-03-02** Passed House with amendments (73-Y 24-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-02** VOTE: Passage (73-Y 24-N)
- **2022-03-04** Passed by temporarily
- **2022-03-04** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-07** House amendments agreed to by Senate (36-Y 3-N)
- **2022-03-07** Emergency clause deleted
- **2022-03-10** Enrolled
- **2022-03-10** Impact statement from DPB (SB148ER)
- **2022-03-10** Signed by President
- **2022-03-10** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 617 (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/8da1786c-9248-44ea-a9f4-e9c70442f4cd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).