republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1799.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Controlled substances; use of FDA-approved substance upon publication of final rule, etc."
description: "Authorizes the Board of Pharmacy (Board) to designate, deschedule, or reschedule as a controlled substance any substance 30 days after publication in the Federal Register of a final or interim final order or rule designating such substance as a controlled substance or descheduling or rescheduling such substance. Under current law, the Board may act 120 days from such publication date. The bill also provides that a person is immune from prosecution for prescribing, administering, dispensing, or possessing pursuant to a valid prescription a substance approved as a prescription drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on or after July 1, 2017, in accordance with a final or interim final order or rule despite the fact that such substance has not been scheduled by the Board. The immunity provided by the bill remains in effect until the earlier of (i) nine months from the date of the publication of the interim final order or rule or, if published within nine months of the interim final order or rule, the final order or rule or (ii) the substance is scheduled by the Board or by law. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1799"
citation: "Virginia HB 1799 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Administration of Government", "Narcotics and Drugs", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John M. O'Bannon, III"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-09"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/054a89eb-a1d2-499a-b11c-5148e7a059d0"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1799"
source_hash: "7bb74cce70f061aec1e7c455db11f358ac26e83d0c948e65ef385a603026113b"
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 1799 (2017) — Controlled substances; use of FDA-approved substance upon publication of final rule, etc.

Authorizes the Board of Pharmacy (Board) to designate, deschedule, or reschedule as a controlled substance any substance 30 days after publication in the Federal Register of a final or interim final order or rule designating such substance as a controlled substance or descheduling or rescheduling such substance. Under current law, the Board may act 120 days from such publication date. The bill also provides that a person is immune from prosecution for prescribing, administering, dispensing, or possessing pursuant to a valid prescription a substance approved as a prescription drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on or after July 1, 2017, in accordance with a final or interim final order or rule despite the fact that such substance has not been scheduled by the Board. The immunity provided by the bill remains in effect until the earlier of (i) nine months from the date of the publication of the interim final order or rule or, if published within nine months of the interim final order or rule, the final order or rule or (ii) the substance is scheduled by the Board or by law. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0416)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0416)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1799ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1799ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104866D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1799H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103739D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1799)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health with amendments — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendments — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendments agreed to by House — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **11–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- John M. O'Bannon, III — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103739D `introduction`
- **2017-01-09** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Courts sub: Criminal Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-01** Committee substitute agreed to 17104866D-H1
- **2017-02-01** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1799H1
- **2017-02-02** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-03** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Reading of amendments waived
- **2017-02-13** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-13** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2017-02-15** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-15** Senate amendments agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled
- **2017-02-17** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-20** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 416 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/054a89eb-a1d2-499a-b11c-5148e7a059d0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).