republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2521.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Assisted living facilities; staffing during overnight hours."
description: "Directs the Board of Social Services to amend regulations governing staffing of assisted living facility units with residents who have serious cognitive impairment due to a primary psychiatric diagnosis of dementia and are unable to recognize danger or protect their own safety and welfare to require that the following number of direct care staff members be awake and on duty during overnight hours: (i) when 22 or fewer residents are present, at least two direct care staff members; (ii) when 23 to 32 residents are present, at least three direct care staff members; (iii) when 33 to 40 residents are present, at least four direct care staff members; and (iv) when more than 40 residents are present, at least four direct care staff members plus at least one additional direct care staff member for every 10 residents or portion thereof in excess of 40 residents. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2521"
citation: "Virginia HB 2521 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Welfare (Social Services)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Sam Rasoul"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 24
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-09"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5ac154d7-890b-4753-b425-c6e480a99a01"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2521"
source_hash: "d20a4c1eb61e7ede9ff8bf5ee2c316d9a3413b2a2003c55243bf23fe6df8f29c"
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 2521 (2019) — Assisted living facilities; staffing during overnight hours.

Directs the Board of Social Services to amend regulations governing staffing of assisted living facility units with residents who have serious cognitive impairment due to a primary psychiatric diagnosis of dementia and are unable to recognize danger or protect their own safety and welfare to require that the following number of direct care staff members be awake and on duty during overnight hours: (i) when 22 or fewer residents are present, at least two direct care staff members; (ii) when 23 to 32 residents are present, at least three direct care staff members; (iii) when 33 to 40 residents are present, at least four direct care staff members; and (iv) when more than 40 residents are present, at least four direct care staff members plus at least one additional direct care staff member for every 10 residents or portion thereof in excess of 40 residents. 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 (CHAP0294)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0294)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2521)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2521ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2521ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19104765D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2521H1)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19103897D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2521)
6. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2521ASE)

## Votes

- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendments — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate amendments agreed to by House — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with amendments — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Sam Rasoul — primary (person)
- Christopher T. Head — cosponsor (person)
- Dawn M. Adams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19103897D `introduction`
- **2019-01-09** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-16** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-01-29** Committee substitute agreed to 19104765D-H1
- **2019-01-29** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2521H1
- **2019-01-30** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-01-30** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-01-30** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-01-31** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-12** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-12** Reading of amendments waived
- **2019-02-12** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-02-12** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2019-02-14** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-14** Senate amendments agreed to by House (97-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
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 294 (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/5ac154d7-890b-4753-b425-c6e480a99a01`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).