republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-391.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employee protections; medicinal use of cannabis oil."
description: "Employee protections; medicinal use of cannabisoil. Amends the provision that prohibits an employer from discriminatingagainst an employee for such employee's lawful use of cannabis oilpursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitionerfor the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee'sdiagnosed condition or disease, with certain exceptions, by specifyingthat such use must conform to the laws of the Commonwealth and byexcluding the employees of the Commonwealth and other public bodiesfrom such protections."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 391"
citation: "Virginia SB 391 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stella G. Pekarsky"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 38
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5ffbb685-17fb-465a-8c5f-9b1e792dc7a0"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB391"
source_hash: "a637bc6446c95037ea988174ae0c1f1a1867416e9d9e540fd8ddf934eeaa4d6a"
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 SB 391 (2024) — Employee protections; medicinal use of cannabis oil.

Employee protections; medicinal use of cannabisoil. Amends the provision that prohibits an employer from discriminatingagainst an employee for such employee's lawful use of cannabis oilpursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitionerfor the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee'sdiagnosed condition or disease, with certain exceptions, by specifyingthat such use must conform to the laws of the Commonwealth and byexcluding the employees of the Commonwealth and other public bodiesfrom such protections.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0674** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0674)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24105181D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB391S1)
3. **Floor substitute printed 24107276D-S2 (Pekarsky)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB391S2)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24103734D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB391)
5. **SB391ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB391ER)
6. **SB391S3** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB391S3)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (80-Y 18-N) — **79–18** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Labor and Commerce (20-Y 2-N) — **20–2** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (30-Y 10-N) — **30–10** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute (11-Y 3-N) — **11–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stella G. Pekarsky — primary (person)
- Angelia Williams Graves — cosponsor (person)
- Saddam Azlan Salim — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24103734D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-19** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-01-31** Impact statement from DPB (SB391)
- **2024-02-02** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-02-02** Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute (11-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-02** Incorporates SB529 (Jordan)
- **2024-02-02** Committee substitute printed 24105181D-S1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB391S1)
- **2024-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-06** Floor substitute printed 24107276D-S2 (Pekarsky)
- **2024-02-06** Passed by for the day
- **2024-02-07** Floor substitute printed 24107344D-S3 (Pekarsky)
- **2024-02-07** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-07** Committee substitute rejected 241051814D-S1
- **2024-02-07** Substitute#1 by Senator Perkarsky withdrawn 24107276D-S2 `withdrawal`
- **2024-02-07** Reading of substitute waived
- **2024-02-07** Substitute #2 by Senator Perkarsky agreed to 24107344D-S3
- **2024-02-07** Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB391S3
- **2024-02-08** Read third time and passed Senate (30-Y 10-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-09** Impact statement from DPB (SB391S3)
- **2024-02-14** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-14** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-14** Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-20** Reported from Labor and Commerce (20-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-22** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-23** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-23** Passed House (80-Y 18-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-23** VOTE: Passage (80-Y 18-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-28** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB391ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** Impact statement from DPB (SB391ER)
- **2024-02-28** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-02** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 674 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0674)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5ffbb685-17fb-465a-8c5f-9b1e792dc7a0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).