republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2025/sb-838.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Recovery residences; certification required penalty, report.	Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; recovery residences; certification required; penalty; work group. Changes the existing civil penalty for a violation of law related to the operation of recovery residences to a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill allows the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to issue conditional certification to certain recovery residences. The bill also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to (i) make recommendations related to oversight and transparency for recovery residences and (ii) develop credentialing guidelines for recovery residences. The bill directs the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by November 1, 2025.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2025	SB 838	Virginia SB 838 (2025)	bill		enacted	Schuyler T. VanValkenburg	10	50	12	2025-01-02	2025-04-02	openstates	ocd-bill/dc8ce4c6-ceea-4bec-8e6e-a6759f039e5b	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/SB838	d126b73d1d1555f0a3d0a771c59e76713e3a2f92f155a82484c955176581345e	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 838 (2025) — Recovery residences; certification required penalty, report.

Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; recovery residences; certification required; penalty; work group. Changes the existing civil penalty for a violation of law related to the operation of recovery residences to a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill allows the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to issue conditional certification to certain recovery residences. The bill also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to (i) make recommendations related to oversight and transparency for recovery residences and (ii) develop credentialing guidelines for recovery residences. The bill directs the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by November 1, 2025.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. Engrossed (committee substitute) — source
4. Finance and Appropriations Amendment (committee substitute) — source
5. Governor's Recommendation (committee substitute) — source
6. Health and Human Services Amendment (committee substitute) — source
7. House Amendments (committee substitute) — source
8. Reenrolled (committee substitute) — source
9. Rehabilitation and Social Services (committee substitute) — source
10. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 1-N 1-A) — 13–1 (pass) · upper
• House concurred in Governor's recommendation (93-Y 0-N) — 93–0 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 1-A) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Rereferred from Education and Health and rereferred to Rehabilitation and Social Services (14-Y 0-N) — 14–0 (pass) · upper
• Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting and rereferred to Appropriations (8-Y 0-N) — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• Passed House (97-Y 0-N) — 97–0 (pass) · lower
• House Amendments agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) — 38–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Finance and Appropriations with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Health and Human Services with amendment(s) and rereferred to Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Appropriations (21-Y 0-N) — 21–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Schuyler T. VanValkenburg — primary (person)
• Barbara A. Favola — cosponsor (person)
• David Owen — cosponsor (person)
• Rodney T. Willett — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-01-02 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25102136D filing, introduction
• 2025-01-02 Referred to Committee on Education and Health referral-committee
• 2025-01-16 Rereferred from Education and Health to Rehabilitation and Social Services (14-Y 0-N) referral-committee
• 2025-01-24 Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 1-N 1-A) committee-passage
• 2025-01-24 Committee substitute printed 25105600D-S1 substitution
• 2025-01-29 Reported from Finance and Appropriations with amendment (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2025-01-30 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB838)
• 2025-01-30 Rules suspended
• 2025-01-30 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 1-A)
• 2025-01-30 Passed by for the day
• 2025-01-31 Read second time reading-2
• 2025-01-31 Reading of substitute waived
• 2025-01-31 Rehabilitation and Social Services agreed to
• 2025-01-31 Reading of amendment waived
• 2025-01-31 Finance and Appropriations Amendment agreed to amendment-passage
• 2025-01-31 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute as amended substitution
• 2025-01-31 Printed as engrossed 25105600D-ES1
• 2025-02-03 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB838)
• 2025-02-03 Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2025-02-06 Placed on Calendar
• 2025-02-06 Read first time reading-1
• 2025-02-06 Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services referral-committee
• 2025-02-06 Assigned sub: Behavioral Health referral-committee
• 2025-02-11 Subcommittee recommends reporting and referring to Appropriations (8-Y 0-N)
• 2025-02-13 Reported from Health and Human Services with amendment(s) and referred to Appropriations (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2025-02-13 Assigned Approps sub: Health & Human Resources referral-committee
• 2025-02-14 Reported from Appropriations (21-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2025-02-18 Read second time reading-2
• 2025-02-19 Read third time reading-3
• 2025-02-19 Health and Human Services Amendments agreed to amendment-passage
• 2025-02-19 Engrossed by House as amended
• 2025-02-19 Passed House with amendments (97-Y 0-N) passage
• 2025-02-20 House Amendments agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N) amendment-passage
• 2025-03-07 Enrolled enrolled
• 2025-03-07 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB838ER) passage
• 2025-03-07 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2025-03-10 Signed by President passage
• 2025-03-11 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2025 enrolled
• 2025-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 executive-receipt
• 2025-03-11 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB838)
• 2025-03-24 Governor's recommendation received by Senate executive-veto-line-item
• 2025-04-02 Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (40-Y 0-N)
• 2025-04-02 House concurred in Governor's recommendation (93-Y 0-N)
• 2025-04-02 Governor's recommendation adopted executive-signature
• 2025-04-02 Reenrolled enrolled
• 2025-04-02 Reenrolled bill text (SB838ER2) enrolled
• 2025-04-02 Signed by President as reenrolled enrolled, passage
• 2025-04-02 Signed by Speaker as reenrolled enrolled, passage
• 2025-04-02 Enacted, Chapter 608 (Effective 07/01/2025) became-law
• 2025-04-02 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0608)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/dc8ce4c6-ceea-4bec-8e6e-a6759f039e5b. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).