republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2559.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Electronic transmission of certain prescriptions; exceptions."
description: "Provides certain exceptions, effective July 1, 2020, to the requirement that any prescription for a controlled substance that contains an opioid be issued as an electronic prescription. The bill requires the licensing health regulatory board of a prescriber to grant such prescriber a waiver of the electronic prescription requirement for a period not to exceed one year due to demonstrated economic hardship, technological limitations that are not reasonably within the control of the prescriber, or other exceptional circumstances demonstrated by the prescriber. The bill provides that a dispenser is not required to verify whether one of the exceptions applies when he receives a non-electronic prescription for a controlled substance containing an opioid. The bill requires the Boards of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Optometry to promulgate regulations to implement the prescriber waivers. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to identify successes and challenges of the electronic prescription requirement and offer possible recommendations for increasing the electronic prescribing of controlled substances that contain an opioid and to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2022."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2559"
citation: "Virginia HB 2559 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Narcotics and Drugs", "Professions and Occupations", "Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Todd E. Pillion"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-01-09"
last_action: "2019-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/41fe207c-99f3-4cfc-9bd0-c7a82ebbdbef"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2559"
source_hash: "6bdfbbc53c3cf001555e8895595b78b29f99d7323f930fc9d332655a45f7ce69"
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 2559 (2019) — Electronic transmission of certain prescriptions; exceptions.

Provides certain exceptions, effective July 1, 2020, to the requirement that any prescription for a controlled substance that contains an opioid be issued as an electronic prescription. The bill requires the licensing health regulatory board of a prescriber to grant such prescriber a waiver of the electronic prescription requirement for a period not to exceed one year due to demonstrated economic hardship, technological limitations that are not reasonably within the control of the prescriber, or other exceptional circumstances demonstrated by the prescriber. The bill provides that a dispenser is not required to verify whether one of the exceptions applies when he receives a non-electronic prescription for a controlled substance containing an opioid. The bill requires the Boards of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Optometry to promulgate regulations to implement the prescriber waivers. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to identify successes and challenges of the electronic prescription requirement and offer possible recommendations for increasing the electronic prescribing of controlled substances that contain an opioid and to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2022.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0664)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0664)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2559AH)
3. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB2559)
4. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2559ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2559ER)
5. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101805D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2559)
6. **House: Printed as engrossed 19101805D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2559E)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendments — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Todd E. Pillion — primary (person)
- Israel D. O'Quinn — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101805D `introduction`
- **2019-01-09** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-16** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-01** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-02-01** Engrossed by House as amended HB2559E
- **2019-02-01** Printed as engrossed 19101805D-E
- **2019-02-04** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-04** Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
- **2019-02-04** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2019-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-05** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-08** Assigned Education sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-21** Enrolled
- **2019-02-21** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-21** Signed by President
- **2019-02-28** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 28, 2019
- **2019-02-28** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 664 (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/41fe207c-99f3-4cfc-9bd0-c7a82ebbdbef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).