---
type: "Bill"
title: "Lyme disease; disclosure of information to patients."
description: "Requires every laboratory reporting the results of a test for Lyme disease ordered by a health care provider in an office-based setting to include, together with the results of such test provided to the health care provider, a notice stating that the results of Lyme disease tests may vary and may produce results that are inaccurate and that a patient may not be able to rely on a positive or negative result from such test. Such notice shall also include a statement that health care providers are encouraged to discuss Lyme disease test results with the patient for whom the test was ordered. The bill also provides that a laboratory that complies with the provisions of the bill shall be immune from civil liability absent gross negligence or willful misconduct."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2731"
citation: "Virginia HB 2731 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James E. Edmunds, II"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-01-16"
last_action: "2019-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a9f2a2f4-1921-432a-aabf-bc5f8806d3b1"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2731"
source_hash: "2fc84ffd46ad1adb7418b1d713ceb95e63e9220715e2cff01c9e4f67981e4e44"
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 2731 (2019) — Lyme disease; disclosure of information to patients.

Requires every laboratory reporting the results of a test for Lyme disease ordered by a health care provider in an office-based setting to include, together with the results of such test provided to the health care provider, a notice stating that the results of Lyme disease tests may vary and may produce results that are inaccurate and that a patient may not be able to rely on a positive or negative result from such test. Such notice shall also include a statement that health care providers are encouraged to discuss Lyme disease test results with the patient for whom the test was ordered. The bill also provides that a laboratory that complies with the provisions of the bill shall be immune from civil liability absent gross negligence or willful misconduct.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0435)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0435)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2731)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2731ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2731ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105570D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2731H1)
5. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19103490D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2731)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- James E. Edmunds, II — primary (person)
- Dave A. LaRock — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-16** Presented and ordered printed 19103490D `introduction`
- **2019-01-16** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-21** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-01** Committee substitute agreed to 19105570D-H1
- **2019-02-01** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2731H1
- **2019-02-04** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-04** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-02-04** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-05** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-08** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled
- **2019-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-21** Signed by President
- **2019-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 28, 2019
- **2019-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 435 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a9f2a2f4-1921-432a-aabf-bc5f8806d3b1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).