republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-1916.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "State agencies and employees; break time and location for employees to express breast milk."
description: "Requires the Department of Human Resource Management to develop state personnel policies that provide break time for nursing mothers to express breast milk. Such policies shall require an agency to provide (i) a reasonable break time that, if possible, runs concurrently with any break time already provided for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the breast milk and (ii) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public and that may be used by an employee to express breast milk."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1916"
citation: "Virginia HB 1916 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Administration of Government", "Labor and Employment"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David E. Yancey"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 25
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2019-01-04"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a1b8cd2c-562b-424d-9b18-d91be6c68a29"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1916"
source_hash: "8dbb2948ee34caa279019689589cf9de287d19958b66eeb52399b29131a77d73"
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 1916 (2019) — State agencies and employees; break time and location for employees to express breast milk.

Requires the Department of Human Resource Management to develop state personnel policies that provide break time for nursing mothers to express breast milk. Such policies shall require an agency to provide (i) a reasonable break time that, if possible, runs concurrently with any break time already provided for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the breast milk and (ii) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public and that may be used by an employee to express breast milk.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0280)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0280)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1916)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1916ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1916ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19106363D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1916H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100046D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1916)
6. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1916ASE)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Appropriations with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Commerce and Labor — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate amendment agreed to by House — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David E. Yancey — primary (person)
- Delores L. McQuinn — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100046D `introduction`
- **2019-01-04** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-10** Assigned C & L sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations
- **2019-01-31** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-01** Assigned App. sub: General Government & Capital Outlay `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 19106363D-H1
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1916H1
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Reading of amendment waived
- **2019-02-20** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-02-20** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2019-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-21** Senate amendment agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
- **2019-02-23** Enrolled
- **2019-02-23** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-23** Signed by President
- **2019-03-04** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 4, 2019
- **2019-03-04** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 280 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a1b8cd2c-562b-424d-9b18-d91be6c68a29`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).