--- type: "Bill" title: "Master's social worker; scope of practice, regulations." description: "Board of Social Work; Board of Counseling; master's social worker; scope of practice; regulations. Expands the scope of practice of master's social workers to allow the provision of clinical services under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker. The bill also directs the Board of Social Work to promulgate regulations to allow master's social workers to engage in clinical services under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker and directs the Board of Counseling to amend its regulations to state that a licensed baccalaureate social worker shall not be required to (i) register with the Board of Counseling or (ii) fulfill any additional training or education requirements in order to serve as a qualified mental health professional-trainee. The bill directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to amend their regulations to deem the services provided by a licensed baccalaureate social worker to be equivalent to the services provided by a qualified mental health professional-trainee and reimbursed at a comparable rate, and directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to seek all necessary federal authority to enact such changes." jurisdiction: "us/states/va" legislature: "Virginia General Assembly" session: "2025" identifier: "HB 1897" citation: "Virginia HB 1897 (2025)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: [] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Rodney T. Willett"] version_count: 5 action_count: 33 vote_count: 8 first_action: "2025-01-06" last_action: "2025-03-19" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a7826de7-10b1-479b-a0cc-e22d250f851c" source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1897" source_hash: "efe15b908aa806dc994aa8137ee74396e2afedab0f8f506332112f0135bbfb56" 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 1897 (2025) — Master's social worker; scope of practice, regulations. Board of Social Work; Board of Counseling; master's social worker; scope of practice; regulations. Expands the scope of practice of master's social workers to allow the provision of clinical services under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker. The bill also directs the Board of Social Work to promulgate regulations to allow master's social workers to engage in clinical services under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker and directs the Board of Counseling to amend its regulations to state that a licensed baccalaureate social worker shall not be required to (i) register with the Board of Counseling or (ii) fulfill any additional training or education requirements in order to serve as a qualified mental health professional-trainee. The bill directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to amend their regulations to deem the services provided by a licensed baccalaureate social worker to be equivalent to the services provided by a qualified mental health professional-trainee and reimbursed at a comparable rate, and directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to seek all necessary federal authority to enact such changes. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1013561.PDF) 2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1071587.PDF) 3. **HHS Sub: Health Professions Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1026995.PDF) 4. **Health and Human Services Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1031170.PDF) 5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1061081.PDF) ## Votes - Reading waived (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper - Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower - Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper - Read third time and passed House (99-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower - Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper - Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper - Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower - Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower ## Sponsors - Rodney T. Willett — primary (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2025-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-13-2025 25101166D `filing, introduction` - **2025-01-06** Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services `referral-committee` - **2025-01-14** Assigned sub: Health Professions `referral-committee` - **2025-01-22** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1897) - **2025-01-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) `substitution` - **2025-01-28** Reported from Health and Human Services with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage` - **2025-01-28** Committee substitute printed 25106245D-H1 `substitution` - **2025-01-30** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1897) - **2025-01-30** Read first time `reading-1` - **2025-01-31** Read second time `reading-2` - **2025-01-31** Health and Human Services Substitute agreed to - **2025-01-31** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution` - **2025-02-03** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3` - **2025-02-03** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House - **2025-02-03** Read third time and passed House (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3` - **2025-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) - **2025-02-04** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee` - **2025-02-07** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee` - **2025-02-13** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage` - **2025-02-17** Rules suspended - **2025-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) - **2025-02-17** Passed by for the day - **2025-02-18** Read third time `reading-3` - **2025-02-18** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage` - **2025-03-07** Enrolled `enrolled` - **2025-03-07** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1897ER) `passage` - **2025-03-07** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1897) - **2025-03-07** Signed by Speaker `passage` - **2025-03-10** Signed by President `passage` - **2025-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt` - **2025-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt` - **2025-03-19** Approved by Governor-Chapter 146 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature` - **2025-03-19** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0146) ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a7826de7-10b1-479b-a0cc-e22d250f851c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).