republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2025/hb-1629.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care records; providers shall provide one free copy of records stored in EHR upon request."
description: "Health care records; fees; certain requests by a patient or his attorney. Requires that a health care provider provide one free copy of a patient's medical records per calendar year if requested by a patient or his attorney for the purposes of supporting a claim or appeal under certain provisions of the Social Security Act or any federal or state financial needs-based benefit program. The bill provides that any additional request for medical records in the same calendar year is subject to a reasonable fee."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 1629"
citation: "Virginia HB 1629 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Joshua E. Thomas"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 33
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2025-01-03"
last_action: "2025-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/131a426d-eb5b-46d5-9867-094f2455654d"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1629"
source_hash: "636d890905f52113e664b20ad8457ee30ec4310ef8160af58c8eae5ba22e1003"
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 1629 (2025) — Health care records; providers shall provide one free copy of records stored in EHR upon request.

Health care records; fees; certain requests by a patient or his attorney. Requires that a health care provider provide one free copy of a patient's medical records per calendar year if requested by a patient or his attorney for the purposes of supporting a claim or appeal under certain provisions of the Social Security Act or any federal or state financial needs-based benefit program. The bill provides that any additional request for medical records in the same calendar year is subject to a reasonable fee.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1012399.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1071968.PDF)
3. **Courts of Justice Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1026301.PDF)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1066506.PDF)

## Votes

- Rereferred from Education and Health and rereferred to Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Joshua E. Thomas — primary (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25100526D `filing, introduction`
- **2025-01-03** Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-13** Assigned sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-15** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1629)
- **2025-01-16** Referred from Health and Human Services and referred to Courts of Justice (Voice Vote) `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-21** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2025-01-24** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-24** Committee substitute printed 25105523D-H1 `substitution`
- **2025-01-24** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1629)
- **2025-01-28** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2025-01-29** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-01-29** Courts of Justice Substitute agreed to
- **2025-01-29** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2025-01-30** Read third time and passed House (96-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-31** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2025-01-31** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-06** Rereferred from Education and Health to Courts of Justice (14-Y 0-N) `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-17** Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-18** Rules suspended
- **2025-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N)
- **2025-02-18** Passed by for the day
- **2025-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-19** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2025-03-07** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-03-07** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1629ER) `passage`
- **2025-03-07** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1629)
- **2025-03-07** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-03-10** Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2025 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 182 (Effective 07/01/25) `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-21** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0182)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/131a426d-eb5b-46d5-9867-094f2455654d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).