---
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 SB 641."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 712"
citation: "Virginia HB 712 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1e18e721-8ed5-4cbb-a16b-b6ab7a02b07b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB712"
source_hash: "3ad45904670821cc302ae24be0285e40d5a647a96861f2bed2672c708f6b81f4"
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 712 (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 SB 641.

## 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/1085619.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216773.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1177810.PDF)

## Votes

- H VOTE: — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health and Human Services — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage R — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- H. Otto Wachsmann, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104755D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-16** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB712)
- **2026-01-21** Assigned sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N)
- **2026-01-27** Reported from Health and Human Services (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-02** Read third time and passed House (99-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-03** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-20** Rules suspended
- **2026-02-20** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-02-20** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-02-23** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-23** Passed Senate (38-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-25** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB712ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB712)
- **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 207 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0207)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1e18e721-8ed5-4cbb-a16b-b6ab7a02b07b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).