republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/hb-551.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Retail Sales and Use Tax; exemption for medicine and drugs purchased by veterinarians."
description: "Retail sales and use tax; exemption for medicine and drugs purchased by veterinarians. Exempts veterinarians from sales and use tax on the purchase of prescription medicines and drugs that are administered or dispensed to patients within a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. The bill repeals provisions of current law that provide that a veterinarian dispensing or selling medicines or drugs on prescription shall be deemed to be the user or consumer of all such medicines and drugs. The bill provides that the exemption shall be in effect from July 1, 2022, until July 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 517."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 551"
citation: "Virginia HB 551 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Don L. Scott"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 35
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e0d9befd-8f4d-4de8-a003-9d098bc7497e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB551"
source_hash: "2509ae836cf8ef8cd8aca6e0727140214c5d5eb643e16ec8aaebc6fc1b9dea50"
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 551 (2022) — Retail Sales and Use Tax; exemption for medicine and drugs purchased by veterinarians.

Retail sales and use tax; exemption for medicine and drugs purchased by veterinarians. Exempts veterinarians from sales and use tax on the purchase of prescription medicines and drugs that are administered or dispensed to patients within a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. The bill repeals provisions of current law that provide that a veterinarian dispensing or selling medicines or drugs on prescription shall be deemed to be the user or consumer of all such medicines and drugs. The bill provides that the exemption shall be in effect from July 1, 2022, until July 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 517.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0551** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0551)
2. **HB551ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB551ER)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100201D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB551)
4. **Printed as engrossed 22100201D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB551E)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (97-Y 1-N) — **96–1** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendment (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (97-Y 2-N) — **96–2** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations with amendment (16-Y 0-N) — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Don L. Scott — primary (person)
- C.E. Cliff Hayes, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Clinton L. Jenkins — cosponsor (person)
- Delores L. McQuinn — cosponsor (person)
- Glenn R. Davis — cosponsor (person)
- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Irene Shin — cosponsor (person)
- Kathy J. Byron — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)
- Michelle Lopes Maldonado — cosponsor (person)
- Nadarius E. Clark — cosponsor (person)
- Ronnie R. Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)
- Shelly A. Simonds — cosponsor (person)
- Vivian E. Watts — cosponsor (person)
- Wren M. Williams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100201D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-20** Assigned Finance sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-23** Impact statement from TAX (HB551)
- **2022-01-24** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-01-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-24** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2022-01-26** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-01-26** Reported from Finance with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-01-31** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-01-31** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-01-31** Engrossed by House as amended HB551E
- **2022-01-31** Printed as engrossed 22100201D-E
- **2022-02-01** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 1-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-01** VOTE: Passage (97-Y 1-N)
- **2022-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-02** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-14** Impact statement from TAX (HB551E)
- **2022-03-01** Reported from Finance and Appropriations with amendment (16-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-02** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-02** Reading of amendment waived
- **2022-03-02** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2022-03-02** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2022-03-02** Passed Senate with amendment (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-02** Senate amendment agreed to by House (97-Y 2-N)
- **2022-03-02** VOTE: Adoption (97-Y 2-N)
- **2022-03-07** Enrolled
- **2022-03-08** Impact statement from TAX (HB551ER)
- **2022-03-08** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-08** Signed by President
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 551 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e0d9befd-8f4d-4de8-a003-9d098bc7497e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).