---
type: "Bill"
title: "Exposure to a decedent's body fluids; testing."
description: "Exposure to a decedent's body fluids; testing. Provides that, in cases in which any law-enforcement officer, salaried or volunteer firefighter, or salaried or volunteer emergency medical services provider is directly exposed to body fluids of a deceased person in a manner that may, according to the then-current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmit human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses, the next of kin of the deceased person shall be deemed to have consented to testing of the decedent's blood for infection with human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses and release of such test results to the person who was exposed. Under current law, whenever a law-enforcement officer, salaried or volunteer firefighter, or salaried or volunteer emergency medical services provider is directly exposed to body fluids of a deceased person in a manner that may, according to the then-current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmit human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses, consent for testing and release of the results must be obtained from the next of kin of the deceased person before testing may be initiated."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 664"
citation: "Virginia HB 664 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert B. Bell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-06"
last_action: "2020-03-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5f8c7a09-98c6-4cb7-addf-050a64281d91"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB664"
source_hash: "9c06e8967331fd865d2a065a0ab3645efc1e4b740de3584608ea2fb4a28fd564"
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 664 (2020) — Exposure to a decedent's body fluids; testing.

Exposure to a decedent's body fluids; testing. Provides that, in cases in which any law-enforcement officer, salaried or volunteer firefighter, or salaried or volunteer emergency medical services provider is directly exposed to body fluids of a deceased person in a manner that may, according to the then-current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmit human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses, the next of kin of the deceased person shall be deemed to have consented to testing of the decedent's blood for infection with human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses and release of such test results to the person who was exposed. Under current law, whenever a law-enforcement officer, salaried or volunteer firefighter, or salaried or volunteer emergency medical services provider is directly exposed to body fluids of a deceased person in a manner that may, according to the then-current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmit human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B or C viruses, consent for testing and release of the results must be obtained from the next of kin of the deceased person before testing may be initiated.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0502)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0502)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB664ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB664)
3. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB664ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB664ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N) — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Rereferred from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Robert B. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102403D `introduction`
- **2020-01-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-28** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-31** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Courts of Justice (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-07** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-10** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-11** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-11** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Rereferred from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Rereferred to Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Assigned Education sub: Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-27** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-28** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-02** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled
- **2020-03-06** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-06** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-03-27** Approved by Governor-Chapter 502 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5f8c7a09-98c6-4cb7-addf-050a64281d91`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).