republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2018/hb-1251.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "CBD oil and THC-A oil; certification for use, dispensing."
description: "Provides that a practitioner may issue a written certification for the use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil or THC-A oil for the treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of any diagnosed condition or disease determined by the practitioner to benefit from such use. Under current law, a practitioner may only issue such certification for the treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of intractable epilepsy. The bill increases the supply of CBD oil or THC-A oil a pharmaceutical processor may dispense from a 30-day supply to a 90-day supply. The bill reduces the minimum amount of cannabidiol or tetrahydrocannabinol acid per milliliter for a dilution of the Cannabis plant to fall under the definition of CBD oil or THC-A oil, respectively. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care. The bill contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 1251"
citation: "Virginia HB 1251 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes and Offenses Generally", "Emergency Legislation", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Benjamin L. Cline"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2018-01-10"
last_action: "2018-03-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/efb87a71-cf68-4819-9dd4-953da1144a19"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB1251"
source_hash: "cb2bb8f9054af98aac8d59f3352bb9e1a736fd511ffc0f6113982dfafe7d3e96"
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 1251 (2018) — CBD oil and THC-A oil; certification for use, dispensing.

Provides that a practitioner may issue a written certification for the use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil or THC-A oil for the treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of any diagnosed condition or disease determined by the practitioner to benefit from such use. Under current law, a practitioner may only issue such certification for the treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of intractable epilepsy. The bill increases the supply of CBD oil or THC-A oil a pharmaceutical processor may dispense from a 30-day supply to a 90-day supply. The bill reduces the minimum amount of cannabidiol or tetrahydrocannabinol acid per milliliter for a dilution of the Cannabis plant to fall under the definition of CBD oil or THC-A oil, respectively. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care. The bill contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1251ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB1251ER)
2. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102110D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB1251)
3. **House: Printed as engrossed 18102110D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB1251E)

## Votes

- Reported from Education and Health with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **38–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **8–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments — **18–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendment agreed to by House — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Benjamin L. Cline — primary (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Charniele L. Herring — cosponsor (person)
- Christopher K. Peace — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel W. Marshall, III — cosponsor (person)
- David J. Toscano — cosponsor (person)
- Eileen Filler-Corn — cosponsor (person)
- Glenn R. Davis — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth R. Plum — cosponsor (person)
- Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret B. Ransone — cosponsor (person)
- Mark H. Levine — cosponsor (person)
- Nicholas J. Freitas — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick A. Hope — cosponsor (person)
- R. Steven Landes — cosponsor (person)
- Steve E. Heretick — cosponsor (person)
- Timothy D. Hugo — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102110D `introduction`
- **2018-01-10** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-18** Referred from Health, Welfare and Institutions by voice vote
- **2018-01-18** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-23** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-01** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2018-02-01** Engrossed by House as amended HB1251E
- **2018-02-01** Printed as engrossed 18102110D-E
- **2018-02-02** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-02-05** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-19** Reading of amendment waived
- **2018-02-19** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2018-02-19** Emergency clause added
- **2018-02-19** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2018-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-02-21** Senate amendment agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
- **2018-02-26** Enrolled
- **2018-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-28** Signed by President
- **2018-03-02** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 2, 2018
- **2018-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 9, 2018
- **2018-03-09** Approved by Governor-Chapter 246 (effective 3/9/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/efb87a71-cf68-4819-9dd4-953da1144a19`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).