republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1689.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Medical records or papers; fee limits, penalty for failure to provide."
description: "Provides that the requestor of medical records or papers has the option of specifying in which format the records or papers are to be produced. The bill allows a health care provider to produce such records or papers in paper or other hard copy format if the items are requested to be produced in electronic format, but the health care provider does not maintain such items in an electronic format or have the capability to produce items in an electronic format. The bill increases from 15 to 30 days the time allowed for health care providers to comply with a request received for records or papers. The bill imposes maximum charges for the production of requested medical records or papers, which vary depending on the format in which the records are produced. The bill sets a maximum total fee of $150 for requests made on or after July 1, 2017, but before July 1, 2021, and $160 for requests made on or after July 1, 2021. The bill directs a provider to comply with a subpoena duces tecum by returning the specified records or papers either on the return date on the subpoena, or five days after receipt of a certification sent by the issuing party, whichever is later. If a court finds that such records or papers are not produced (i) for a reason other than compliance with privacy requirements or (ii) due to an inability to retrieve or access such records or papers, the subpoenaing party shall be entitled to a rebuttable presumption that expenses and attorney fees related to the failure to produce such records shall be awarded by the court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1689"
citation: "Virginia HB 1689 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies and Procedure", "Health", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gregory D. Habeeb"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2017-01-06"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/42e32502-51d9-42eb-aabb-3137486ef28e"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1689"
source_hash: "2fc475ef34ab3285c939ada9b4075dc7c140cf6d5adc29c2c7e11fd309d0062f"
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 HB 1689 (2017) — Medical records or papers; fee limits, penalty for failure to provide.

Provides that the requestor of medical records or papers has the option of specifying in which format the records or papers are to be produced. The bill allows a health care provider to produce such records or papers in paper or other hard copy format if the items are requested to be produced in electronic format, but the health care provider does not maintain such items in an electronic format or have the capability to produce items in an electronic format. The bill increases from 15 to 30 days the time allowed for health care providers to comply with a request received for records or papers. The bill imposes maximum charges for the production of requested medical records or papers, which vary depending on the format in which the records are produced. The bill sets a maximum total fee of $150 for requests made on or after July 1, 2017, but before July 1, 2021, and $160 for requests made on or after July 1, 2021. The bill directs a provider to comply with a subpoena duces tecum by returning the specified records or papers either on the return date on the subpoena, or five days after receipt of a certification sent by the issuing party, whichever is later. If a court finds that such records or papers are not produced (i) for a reason other than compliance with privacy requirements or (ii) due to an inability to retrieve or access such records or papers, the subpoenaing party shall be entitled to a rebuttable presumption that expenses and attorney fees related to the failure to produce such records shall be awarded by the court.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0457)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0457)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1689ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1689ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103596D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1689)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17103596D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1689E)

## Votes

- Senate amendment agreed to by House — **97–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments — **21–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Gregory D. Habeeb — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103596D `introduction`
- **2017-01-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-01** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-01** Engrossed by House as amended HB1689E
- **2017-02-01** Printed as engrossed 17103596D-E
- **2017-02-02** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-02-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-20** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-20** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2017-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-21** Senate amendment agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N)
- **2017-02-24** Enrolled
- **2017-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-24** Signed by President
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/28/17
- **2017-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 457 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/42e32502-51d9-42eb-aabb-3137486ef28e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).