republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1511.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Advance directives; admission of person for mental health treatment, capacity determinations."
description: "Provides that in cases in which a person has executed an advance directive granting an agent the authority to consent to the person's admission to a facility for mental health treatment and the advance directive so authorizes, the person's agent may exercise such authority after a determination that the person is incapable of making an informed decision regarding such admission has been made by (i) the attending physician, (ii) a psychiatrist or licensed clinical psychologist, (iii) a licensed psychiatric nurse practitioner, (iv) a licensed clinical social worker, or (v) a designee of the local community services board as defined in § 37.2-809. The bill also provides that a person's agent may make a health care decision over the protest of the person if, in addition to other factors, at the time the advance directive was made, a licensed physician, licensed clinical psychologist, licensed physician assistant, licensed nurse practitioner, licensed professional counselor, or licensed clinical social worker who is familiar with the person attested in writing that the person was capable of making an informed decision and understood the consequences of the provision. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1511"
citation: "Virginia SB 1511 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Behavioral Health and Developmental Services", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["R. Creigh Deeds"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-19"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ea62a69b-3bd5-448a-a9be-41f43848911e"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1511"
source_hash: "b9e4bf4e5b31b2737418676a29cd7eb94e4ab58969f8af35027f84f78e0f0f3a"
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 1511 (2017) — Advance directives; admission of person for mental health treatment, capacity determinations.

Provides that in cases in which a person has executed an advance directive granting an agent the authority to consent to the person's admission to a facility for mental health treatment and the advance directive so authorizes, the person's agent may exercise such authority after a determination that the person is incapable of making an informed decision regarding such admission has been made by (i) the attending physician, (ii) a psychiatrist or licensed clinical psychologist, (iii) a licensed psychiatric nurse practitioner, (iv) a licensed clinical social worker, or (v) a designee of the local community services board as defined in § 37.2-809. The bill also provides that a person's agent may make a health care decision over the protest of the person if, in addition to other factors, at the time the advance directive was made, a licensed physician, licensed clinical psychologist, licensed physician assistant, licensed nurse practitioner, licensed professional counselor, or licensed clinical social worker who is familiar with the person attested in writing that the person was capable of making an informed decision and understood the consequences of the provision. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0474)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0474)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1511ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1511ER)
3. **Senate: Presented and ordered printed 17103741D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1511)
4. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17103741D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1511E)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendments — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- House amendments agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- R. Creigh Deeds — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 17103741D `introduction`
- **2017-01-19** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-30** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-06** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1511E
- **2017-02-06** Printed as engrossed 17103741D-E
- **2017-02-08** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-08** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-08** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-13** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2017-02-13** Passed House with amendments BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 474 (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/ea62a69b-3bd5-448a-a9be-41f43848911e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).