republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-53.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Social workers; licensure by endorsement."
description: "Board of Social Work; reciprocal licensing agreements. Directs the Board of Social Work to pursue the establishment of reciprocal agreements with jurisdictions that are contiguous with the Commonwealth for the licensure of baccalaureate social workers, master's social workers, and clinical social workers. The bill provides that reciprocal agreements shall require that a person hold a comparable, current, unrestricted license in the other jurisdiction and that no grounds exist for denial based on the Code of Virginia and regulations of the Board."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 53"
citation: "Virginia SB 53 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["William M. Stanley, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 33
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-11-18"
last_action: "2020-04-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/977631ac-2986-48f8-850d-a3c738b7af84"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB53"
source_hash: "79bc65e155e95fc05c743a41b47531659b943e8a7b34d89e05960311aecd1b3d"
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 53 (2020) — Social workers; licensure by endorsement.

Board of Social Work; reciprocal licensing agreements. Directs the Board of Social Work to pursue the establishment of reciprocal agreements with jurisdictions that are contiguous with the Commonwealth for the licensure of baccalaureate social workers, master's social workers, and clinical social workers. The bill provides that reciprocal agreements shall require that a person hold a comparable, current, unrestricted license in the other jurisdiction and that no grounds exist for denial based on the Code of Virginia and regulations of the Board.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0617)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0617)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB53ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB53ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB53)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB53)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB53S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB53S1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Rereferred from Rehabilitation and Social Services (11-Y 0-N) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N) — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- William M. Stanley, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-11-18** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100386D `introduction`
- **2019-11-18** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-09** Impact statement from DPB (SB53)
- **2020-01-17** Rereferred from Rehabilitation and Social Services (11-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-17** Rereferred to Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-22** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-06** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Committee substitute printed 20107751D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-07** Impact statement from DPB (SB53S1)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 20107751D-S1
- **2020-02-10** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB53S1
- **2020-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-10** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Assigned HWI sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-25** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-28** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-28** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (100-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-05** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB53ER)
- **2020-03-06** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-07** 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
- **2020-04-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 617 (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/977631ac-2986-48f8-850d-a3c738b7af84`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).