---
type: "Bill"
title: "Office-based buprenorphine treatment; Board of Medicine to amend regulations."
description: "Board of Medicine; office-based buprenorphine treatment; counseling. Directs the Board of Medicine to amend its regulations regarding office-based buprenorphine treatment to require providers to offer counseling or referral to counseling to each patient as clinically necessary and mutually agreed-upon. The bill specifies that a patient's refusal of counseling does not preclude the patient from receiving office-based buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care and is identical to HB 712."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 641"
citation: "Virginia SB 641 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Todd E. Pillion"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 28
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4520cc5a-9cc5-4aa5-9999-24601a13051b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB641"
source_hash: "33770c1f8a2e5f57724a49fd836c31d29bcd97172670a2608d8df71a02e51836"
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 641 (2026) — Office-based buprenorphine treatment; Board of Medicine to amend regulations.

Board of Medicine; office-based buprenorphine treatment; counseling. Directs the Board of Medicine to amend its regulations regarding office-based buprenorphine treatment to require providers to offer counseling or referral to counseling to each patient as clinically necessary and mutually agreed-upon. The bill specifies that a patient's refusal of counseling does not preclude the patient from receiving office-based buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care and is identical to HB 712.

## 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/1091598.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216781.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1179238.PDF)

## Votes

- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health and Human Services — **21–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Todd E. Pillion — primary (person)
- Bryce E. Reeves — cosponsor (person)
- Christie New Craig — cosponsor (person)
- Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Luther Cifers, III — cosponsor (person)
- Mark D. Obenshain — cosponsor (person)
- Mark J. Peake — cosponsor (person)
- Richard H. Stuart — cosponsor (person)
- Ryan T. McDougle — cosponsor (person)
- T. Travis Hackworth — cosponsor (person)
- Tammy Brankley Mulchi — cosponsor (person)
- Timmy French — cosponsor (person)
- William M. Stanley, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-14** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104754D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-14** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB641)
- **2026-01-30** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** Reported from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-06** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-06** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-06** Passed by for the day
- **2026-02-09** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-09** Engrossed by Senate (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-10** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2026-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-13** Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Reported from Health and Human Services (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-24** Passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-26** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB641ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-02** Fiscal Impact statement From DPB (3/2/2026 2:20 pm)
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 208 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0208)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4520cc5a-9cc5-4aa5-9999-24601a13051b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).