republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/sb-63.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Safe haven protections; newborn safety device at hospitals for reception of children."
description: "Safe haven protections; newborn safety device. Provides an affirmative defense in certain criminal prosecutions and civil proceedings regarding child abuse or neglect to a parent who safely delivers his child within the first 30 days of the child's life to a newborn safety device located at a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or at an attended emergency medical services agency that employs emergency medical services personnel. The bill also provides civil and criminal immunity to such hospitals and emergency medical services agencies for injuries to children received through such newborn safety devices, provided that (i) the injuries are not the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct and (ii) the hospital or emergency medical services agency meets certain requirements regarding the establishment, functioning, and testing of the device. Current law requires the child to be delivered within the first 14 days of the child's life at such hospital or emergency medical services agency. This bill incorporates SB 175 and is identical to HB 16."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 63"
citation: "Virginia SB 63 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Frank M. Ruff, Jr."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 26
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2022-01-03"
last_action: "2022-04-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/30b56e3a-a485-4513-9aa2-a82ad2ff9287"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB63"
source_hash: "c06b8ed87b6f296cb9e3de0846691e106a67a5eb30ed7331bf164a31d9d336c5"
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 63 (2022) — Safe haven protections; newborn safety device at hospitals for reception of children.

Safe haven protections; newborn safety device. Provides an affirmative defense in certain criminal prosecutions and civil proceedings regarding child abuse or neglect to a parent who safely delivers his child within the first 30 days of the child's life to a newborn safety device located at a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or at an attended emergency medical services agency that employs emergency medical services personnel. The bill also provides civil and criminal immunity to such hospitals and emergency medical services agencies for injuries to children received through such newborn safety devices, provided that (i) the injuries are not the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct and (ii) the hospital or emergency medical services agency meets certain requirements regarding the establishment, functioning, and testing of the device. Current law requires the child to be delivered within the first 14 days of the child's life at such hospital or emergency medical services agency. This bill incorporates SB 175 and is identical to HB 16.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0080** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0080)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22105078D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB63S1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103521D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB63)
4. **SB63ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB63ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 0-N 1-A) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (15-Y 6-N) — **15–6** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (85-Y 14-N) — **84–14** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Frank M. Ruff, Jr. — primary (person)
- David R. Suetterlein — cosponsor (person)
- Mark J. Peake — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22103521D `introduction`
- **2022-01-03** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-24** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (14-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-24** Committee substitute printed 22105078D-S1 `substitution`
- **2022-01-24** Incorporates SB175 (Peake)
- **2022-01-25** Passed by for the day
- **2022-01-26** Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-01-27** Reading of substitute waived
- **2022-01-27** Committee substitute agreed to 22105078D-S1
- **2022-01-27** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB63S1
- **2022-01-28** Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-21** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (15-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-25** Passed House (85-Y 14-N) `passage`
- **2022-02-25** VOTE: Passage (85-Y 14-N)
- **2022-03-01** Enrolled
- **2022-03-01** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-02** Signed by President
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-05** Approved by Governor-Chapter 80 (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/30b56e3a-a485-4513-9aa2-a82ad2ff9287`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).