republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-392.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Hospitals; emergency departments to have at least one licensed physician on duty at all times."
description: "Hospitals; emergency departments; licensed physicians. Requires any hospital with an emergency department to have at least one licensed physician on duty and physically present at all times. Current law requires such hospitals to have a licensed physician on call, though not necessarily physically present on the premises, at all times. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025 and is identical to HB 353."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 392"
citation: "Virginia SB 392 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stella G. Pekarsky"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 36
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b52cb7e8-3b86-4cf6-9887-c33cff9f8437"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB392"
source_hash: "344c97da0223877106023023515e23c99f2516bbc0ef421f44a60a63061689d4"
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 392 (2024) — Hospitals; emergency departments to have at least one licensed physician on duty at all times.

Hospitals; emergency departments; licensed physicians. Requires any hospital with an emergency department to have at least one licensed physician on duty and physically present at all times. Current law requires such hospitals to have a licensed physician on call, though not necessarily physically present on the premises, at all times. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025 and is identical to HB 353.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0505** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0505)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24103092D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB392)
3. **Printed as engrossed 24103092D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB392E)
4. **SB392ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB392ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (63-Y 36-N) — **62–36** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health and Human Services with amendment(s) (21-Y 1-N) — **21–1** (pass) · lower
- House amendment agreed to by Senate (36-Y 2-N) — **36–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stella G. Pekarsky — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24103092D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-15** Assigned Education and Health Sub: Health `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-19** Impact statement from DPB (SB392)
- **2024-01-23** Senate subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-01-25** Reported from Education and Health with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-25** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-30** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-01** Reading of amendment waived
- **2024-02-01** Committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-01** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB392E
- **2024-02-01** Printed as engrossed 24103092D-E
- **2024-02-02** Read third time and passed Senate (38-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-02** Impact statement from DPB (SB392E)
- **2024-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-13** Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-15** Reported from Health and Human Services with amendment(s) (21-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-20** Committee amendment agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-20** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2024-02-20** Passed House with amendment (63-Y 36-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-20** VOTE: Passage (63-Y 36-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-22** House amendment agreed to by Senate (36-Y 2-N) `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-27** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-27** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB392ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB392ER)
- **2024-02-27** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-01** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-04** Approved by Governor-Chapter 505 (effective 7/1/25) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-04** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0505)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b52cb7e8-3b86-4cf6-9887-c33cff9f8437`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).