republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-1933.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Prisoners; medical and mental health treatment of those incapable of giving consent."
description: "Establishes a process for the sheriff or administrator in charge of a local or regional correctional facility to petition a court to authorize medical or mental health treatment for a prisoner in such facility who is incapable of giving informed consent for such treatment. The process parallels the existing process for the Director of the Department of Corrections to seek authorization to provide involuntary treatment to prisoners in state correctional facilities. The bill requires the court to authorize such treatment in a facility designated by the sheriff or administrator upon finding that the prisoner is incapable, either mentally or physically, of giving informed consent; that the prisoner does not have a relevant advanced directive, guardian, or other substitute decision maker; that the proposed treatment is in the best interests of the prisoner; and that the jail has sufficient medical and nursing resources available to safely administer the treatment and respond to any adverse side effects that might arise from the treatment. The bill provides that the treatment ordered may be provided within a local or regional correctional facility if such facility is licensed to provide such treatment. If statutory procedures are followed, the service provider does not have liability based on lack of consent or lack of capacity to consent unless there is injury or death resulting from gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1933"
citation: "Virginia HB 1933 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Behavioral Health and Developmental Services", "Courts of Record", "Prisons and Other Methods of Correction"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patrick A. Hope"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-05"
last_action: "2019-03-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4f9299ca-6ebd-48e3-af49-3c9be1978147"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1933"
source_hash: "616da0e821537d614efa7e8f2b7176ac47cc208fd7541b0449a9f1043dc99fe7"
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 1933 (2019) — Prisoners; medical and mental health treatment of those incapable of giving consent.

Establishes a process for the sheriff or administrator in charge of a local or regional correctional facility to petition a court to authorize medical or mental health treatment for a prisoner in such facility who is incapable of giving informed consent for such treatment. The process parallels the existing process for the Director of the Department of Corrections to seek authorization to provide involuntary treatment to prisoners in state correctional facilities. The bill requires the court to authorize such treatment in a facility designated by the sheriff or administrator upon finding that the prisoner is incapable, either mentally or physically, of giving informed consent; that the prisoner does not have a relevant advanced directive, guardian, or other substitute decision maker; that the proposed treatment is in the best interests of the prisoner; and that the jail has sufficient medical and nursing resources available to safely administer the treatment and respond to any adverse side effects that might arise from the treatment. The bill provides that the treatment ordered may be provided within a local or regional correctional facility if such facility is licensed to provide such treatment. If statutory procedures are followed, the service provider does not have liability based on lack of consent or lack of capacity to consent unless there is injury or death resulting from gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0809)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0809)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1933)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1933ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1933ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19104834D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1933H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100189D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1933)
6. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1933ASE)

## Votes

- Senate amendment agreed to by House — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Rereferred from Courts of Justice — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Patrick A. Hope — primary (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)
- Sam Rasoul — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100189D `introduction`
- **2019-01-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-14** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-24** Committee substitute agreed to 19104834D-H1
- **2019-01-24** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1933H1
- **2019-01-25** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-28** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-28** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-30** Rereferred to Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-12** Reading of amendment waived
- **2019-02-12** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-02-12** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2019-02-14** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-14** Senate amendment agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
- **2019-02-19** Enrolled
- **2019-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 21, 2019
- **2019-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-26** Approved by Governor-Chapter 809 (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/4f9299ca-6ebd-48e3-af49-3c9be1978147`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).