republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-1976.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; mission of Authority, membership."
description: "Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; mission; membership. Adds to the mission of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority (i) developing strategies to increase diversity in the health workforce by examining demographic data on race and ethnicity in training programs and health professional licensure, (ii) identifying ways to leverage technology to increase access to health workforce training and health care delivery, and (iii) developing a centralized health care careers roadmap in partnership with the Department of Health Professions that includes information on both licensed and unlicensed professions and that is disseminated to the Commonwealth's health care workforce stakeholders to raise awareness about available career pathways. The bill increases from three to five the number of members representing health professionals or employers or representatives of health professionals on the Board of Directors of the Authority and removes the requirement that the chairman and vice-chairman of the Board of Directors be legislative members. The bill adds the Chief Workforce Development Advisor to the list of officials and entities to whom the Board of Directors reports biennially on the activities and recommendations of the Authority."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1976"
citation: "Virginia HB 1976 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rodney T. Willett"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f09e47ff-7dbc-45cc-aae1-e78112519c00"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB1976"
source_hash: "b66dc3239d32fe6e5510a2d225db862a7e6f1611f99e8418a8ef627e752905b7"
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 1976 (2021) — Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; mission of Authority, membership.

Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; mission; membership. Adds to the mission of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority (i) developing strategies to increase diversity in the health workforce by examining demographic data on race and ethnicity in training programs and health professional licensure, (ii) identifying ways to leverage technology to increase access to health workforce training and health care delivery, and (iii) developing a centralized health care careers roadmap in partnership with the Department of Health Professions that includes information on both licensed and unlicensed professions and that is disseminated to the Commonwealth's health care workforce stakeholders to raise awareness about available career pathways. The bill increases from three to five the number of members representing health professionals or employers or representatives of health professionals on the Board of Directors of the Authority and removes the requirement that the chairman and vice-chairman of the Board of Directors be legislative members. The bill adds the Chief Workforce Development Advisor to the list of officials and entities to whom the Board of Directors reports biennially on the activities and recommendations of the Authority.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0264** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0264)
2. **HB1976ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1976ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102182D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1976)
4. **Printed as engrossed 21102182D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB1976E)

## Votes

- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendment(s) (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Rodney T. Willett — primary (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102182D `introduction`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-21** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-21** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendment(s) (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-01-25** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2021-01-25** Engrossed by House as amended HB1976E
- **2021-01-25** Printed as engrossed 21102182D-E
- **2021-01-26** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-01-26** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2021-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-01-27** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-29** Impact statement from DPB (HB1976E)
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Education and Health (15-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-12** Assigned Education sub: Health `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-18** Reported from Education and Health (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-19** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled
- **2021-02-25** Signed by President
- **2021-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-01** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
- **2021-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB1976ER)
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 264 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f09e47ff-7dbc-45cc-aae1-e78112519c00`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).