republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-172.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health insurance claims; electronic information or attachments accepted, delayed effective date."
description: "Health insurance; carrier business practices; electronic attachments. Provides that, in the following contexts, information may be submitted by a provider to a health insurance carrier through electronic attachment, as defined in the bill: (i) information related to services rendered as required by the carrier in its provider contract; (ii) information related to any defect or impropriety that prevents the carrier from deeming a health insurance claim a clean claim, as defined in existing law; and (iii) information required to establish medical necessity, benefit coverage, or prior authorization of services, or to conduct reconsideration activities. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. This bill is identical to HB 676."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 172"
citation: "Virginia SB 172 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stella G. Pekarsky"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2026-01-08"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eede93bf-3f3a-419d-a081-9ca9e2f82098"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB172"
source_hash: "45cd343da536db999176c035791d1af32aff33686404c2b4ece944f524bf9196"
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 172 (2026) — Health insurance claims; electronic information or attachments accepted, delayed effective date.

Health insurance; carrier business practices; electronic attachments. Provides that, in the following contexts, information may be submitted by a provider to a health insurance carrier through electronic attachment, as defined in the bill: (i) information related to services rendered as required by the carrier in its provider contract; (ii) information related to any defect or impropriety that prevents the carrier from deeming a health insurance claim a clean claim, as defined in existing law; and (iii) information required to establish medical necessity, benefit coverage, or prior authorization of services, or to conduct reconsideration activities. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. This bill is identical to HB 676.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1083650.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216785.PDF)
3. **Commerce and Labor Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1097471.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1178966.PDF)

## Votes

- Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Labor and Commerce — **17–3** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **97–1** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stella G. Pekarsky — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-08** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102798D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-08** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **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 26106213D-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** Reported from Labor and Commerce (17-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-24** Passed House (97-Y 1-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-02-26** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB172ER) `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-23** Fiscal Impact Statement from State Corporation Commission (SB172)
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 201 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0201)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/eede93bf-3f3a-419d-a081-9ca9e2f82098`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).