republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-1942.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Behavioral health services; exchange of medical and mental health information and records."
description: "Authorizes the State Board of Corrections (the Board) to establish minimum standards for behavioral health services in local correctional facilities, including (i) requirements for behavioral health screening and assessment for all individuals committed to local correctional facilities, the delivery of behavioral health services in local correctional facilities, and the sharing of medical and mental health information and records concerning individuals committed to local correctional facilities; (ii) requirements for discharge planning for individuals with serious mental illness assessed as requiring behavioral health services upon release from local correctional facilities; (iii) requirements for at least one unannounced annual inspection of each local correctional facility to determine compliance; and (iv) provisions for billing the sheriff in charge of a local correctional facility or superintendent of a regional correctional facility by a community services board that provides behavioral health services in the local or regional correctional facility. The bill also allows the person in charge of a state, regional, or local correctional facility, or his designee, to receive from a health care provider medical and mental health information and records concerning a person committed to such correctional facility, even when such committed person does not provide consent or consent is not readily obtainable, when such information and records are necessary (a) for the provision of health care to the person committed, (b) to protect the health and safety of the person committed or other residents or staff of the facility, or (c) to maintain the security and safety of the facility. The bill clarifies that the administrative personnel of a state, regional, or local correctional facility may receive medical and mental health information and records from any health care provider concerning any person committed to such correctional facility as necessary to maintain the safety of the facility, its employees, or other prisoners."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1942"
citation: "Virginia HB 1942 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Behavioral Health and Developmental Services", "Prisons and Other Methods of Correction", "Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert B. Bell"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 33
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2019-01-06"
last_action: "2019-04-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c2d1fa84-2a22-470e-8f5f-60b7c7a6bbc1"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1942"
source_hash: "e2da74a979382f6d5369edd3fe9298731e0e688fac6dddbf1c55a5172408f543"
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 1942 (2019) — Behavioral health services; exchange of medical and mental health information and records.

Authorizes the State Board of Corrections (the Board) to establish minimum standards for behavioral health services in local correctional facilities, including (i) requirements for behavioral health screening and assessment for all individuals committed to local correctional facilities, the delivery of behavioral health services in local correctional facilities, and the sharing of medical and mental health information and records concerning individuals committed to local correctional facilities; (ii) requirements for discharge planning for individuals with serious mental illness assessed as requiring behavioral health services upon release from local correctional facilities; (iii) requirements for at least one unannounced annual inspection of each local correctional facility to determine compliance; and (iv) provisions for billing the sheriff in charge of a local correctional facility or superintendent of a regional correctional facility by a community services board that provides behavioral health services in the local or regional correctional facility. The bill also allows the person in charge of a state, regional, or local correctional facility, or his designee, to receive from a health care provider medical and mental health information and records concerning a person committed to such correctional facility, even when such committed person does not provide consent or consent is not readily obtainable, when such information and records are necessary (a) for the provision of health care to the person committed, (b) to protect the health and safety of the person committed or other residents or staff of the facility, or (c) to maintain the security and safety of the facility. The bill clarifies that the administrative personnel of a state, regional, or local correctional facility may receive medical and mental health information and records from any health care provider concerning any person committed to such correctional facility as necessary to maintain the safety of the facility, its employees, or other prisoners.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0827)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0827)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1942)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1942ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1942ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19105347D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1942H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19103028D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1942)
6. **House: Reenrolled bill text (HB1942ER2)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1942ER2)
7. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1942ASE)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendments — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate amendments agreed to by House — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- House concurred in Governor's recommendation — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendments — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Appropriations — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Robert B. Bell — primary (person)
- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus B. Simon — cosponsor (person)
- Roslyn C. Tyler — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19103028D `introduction`
- **2019-01-06** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-11** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Referred to Committee on Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-30** Assigned App. sub: Health & Human Resources `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 19105347D-H1
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1942H1
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-08** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-15** Reading of amendments waived
- **2019-02-15** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-02-15** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2019-02-19** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-19** Senate amendments agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
- **2019-02-22** Enrolled
- **2019-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-22** 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
- **2019-03-22** Governor's recommendation received by House
- **2019-04-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-04-03** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (99-Y 0-N)
- **2019-04-03** Governor's recommendation adopted
- **2019-04-03** Reenrolled
- **2019-04-03** Reenrolled bill text (HB1942ER2)
- **2019-04-03** Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
- **2019-04-03** Signed by President as reenrolled
- **2019-04-03** Enacted, Chapter 827 (effective 7/1/19) `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c2d1fa84-2a22-470e-8f5f-60b7c7a6bbc1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).