republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-164.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	Health insurance; ethics and fairness in carrier business practices, downcoded claims.	Health insurance; ethics and fairness in carrier business practices; downcoded claims. Prohibits a carrier, intermediary, administrator, or representative of a carrier from downcoding a claim unless the decision to downcode is determined by a person or electronic system that reflects correct coding standards and considers all relevant patient data from the billing provider in making the determination. The bill requires a carrier, intermediary, administrator, or representative that downcodes a claim to provide certain notice to the provider. The bill requires that all downcoding dispute decisions are reviewed and adjudicated by a natural person.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2026	SB 164	Virginia SB 164 (2026)	bill		enacted	Jeremy S. McPike	7	44	7	2026-01-07	2026-04-13	openstates	ocd-bill/43461926-7d19-4b55-b40a-9d459f9a0f8f	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB164	ba5acaa47553cb5b3fd2a7c587acd033b9223f2c9e822412bcd5a7df90fd585f	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 164 (2026) — Health insurance; ethics and fairness in carrier business practices, downcoded claims.

Health insurance; ethics and fairness in carrier business practices; downcoded claims. Prohibits a carrier, intermediary, administrator, or representative of a carrier from downcoding a claim unless the decision to downcode is determined by a person or electronic system that reflects correct coding standards and considers all relevant patient data from the billing provider in making the determination. The bill requires a carrier, intermediary, administrator, or representative that downcodes a claim to provide certain notice to the provider. The bill requires that all downcoding dispute decisions are reviewed and adjudicated by a natural person.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Commerce and Labor Substitute (committee substitute) — source
3. Delegate Shin Amendments (committee substitute) — source
4. House Amendments (committee substitute) — source
5. Labor and Commerce Substitute (committee substitute) — source
6. Subcommittee #1 Subcommittee Substitute (committee substitute) — source
7. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Constitutional reading dispensed R — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• H VOTE: — 97–1 (pass) · lower
• Concur House Amendments R — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute — 21–0 (pass) · lower
• Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — 9–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Passage R — 38–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Jeremy S. McPike — primary (person)
• Bill DeSteph — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2026-01-07 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103299D filing, introduction
• 2026-01-07 Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor referral-committee
• 2026-01-26 Senate committee offered
• 2026-01-26 Senate committee offered
• 2026-01-26 Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2026-01-27 Committee substitute printed 26106195D-S1 substitution
• 2026-01-28 Rules suspended
• 2026-01-28 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 1st reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
• 2026-01-28 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
• 2026-01-28 Passed by for the day
• 2026-01-29 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-01-29 Commerce and Labor Substitute agreed to
• 2026-01-29 Engrossed by Senate (Voice Vote)
• 2026-01-29 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute substitution
• 2026-01-30 Read third time and passed Senate passage, reading-3
• 2026-02-04 Placed on Calendar
• 2026-02-04 Read first time reading-1
• 2026-02-04 Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce referral-committee
• 2026-02-19 Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #1 referral-committee
• 2026-02-24 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (9-Y 0-N) substitution
• 2026-02-26 Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (21-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-27 Committee substitute printed 26108190D-H1 substitution
• 2026-03-02 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-03-03 Moved from Uncontested Calendar to Regular Calendar
• 2026-03-03 Passed by for the day
• 2026-03-03 Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (SB164)
• 2026-03-04 Read third time reading-3
• 2026-03-04 committee substitute rejected
• 2026-03-04 Passed by temporarily
• 2026-03-04 Floor offered Delegate Shin Amendments
• 2026-03-04 Reconsideration of
• 2026-03-04 Labor and Commerce Substituteagreed to by House
• 2026-03-04 Delegate Shin Floor amendments agreed to amendment-passage
• 2026-03-04 Engrossed by House - committee substitute as amended substitution
• 2026-03-04 Passed House with substitute with amendments (97-Y 1-N 0-A) passage
• 2026-03-06 House substitute with amendments agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) amendment-passage, substitution
• 2026-03-12 Enrolled enrolled
• 2026-03-12 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB164ER) passage
• 2026-03-12 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2026-03-12 Signed by President passage
• 2026-03-14 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 enrolled, executive-receipt
• 2026-03-14 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 executive-receipt
• 2026-03-24 Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (SB164)
• 2026-04-13 Approved by Governor-Chapter 881 (effective 7/1/2026) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/43461926-7d19-4b55-b40a-9d459f9a0f8f. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).