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Health and Human Services

Thursday, February 12, 2026·54m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Virginia Health and Human Services Committee advanced more than twenty bills on topics ranging from Medicaid expedited review oversight and medical cannabis access in care facilities to nursing home staffing and menstrual product labeling, while continuing a mandatory suicide training bill to 2027 and recording one of the session's most contested votes — 13 to 6 to 1 — on a psychiatric emergency department bill tied to a single Hampton facility.

Key Actions

·HB 1452 – DMAS Expedited Medicaid Review; Annual ReportPassed

+ 25 more actions

Controversies

HB 1318 – Scope of psychiatric emergency department exception and community representation

A questioner [rendered in transcript as 'Mr. Hoover'; identity unclear] asked Chair Gardner whether HB 1318 amends the law passed last year requiring an emergency room doctor in every emergency room, and whether this represents the beginning of exceptions for hospitals. Chair Gardner responded that the bill pertains to just the one Riverside facility in Hampton and characterized it as a model that may potentially be replicated across the state. Delegate Herring separately announced an abstention, citing a doctor who testified against an extension and stating he was waiting to hear from Delegate Ward and Senator Locke — whose community is affected — before casting a conscience vote.

+ 1 more controversy

Notable Quotes

“Oversight is not duplication. It is governance. And governance matters when patient safety and Worker safety are implicated.”

Delegate Bonita G. Anthony — Delegate Anthony, patron of HB 1452, was arguing for legislative oversight of DMAS's expedited Medicaid service authorization review process, distinguishing between federal regulatory compliance and state legislative accountability.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

HB 1452 – Adopt substitutePassed
HB 1452 – Report with substitutePassed
Health Professions Subcommittee block – Adopt substitutes and amendmentsPassed
Health Professions Subcommittee block – Report with substitutes and amendmentsPassed
HB 605 – Report with substitute, referred to AppropriationsPassed
HB 717 – Report, referred to AppropriationsPassed
HB 851 – Strike at patron's requestPassed
HB 486 into HB 75 – Incorporate HB 486 into HB 75Passed
HB 75 – Report with substitutePassed
Health Subcommittee block (excluding HB 75 and HB 602) – Report with substitutes and amendmentsPassed
HB 602 – Report with substitutePassed
HB 392 – Report with substitute, referred to AppropriationsPassed
HB 674 – Report with substitute, referred to AppropriationsPassed
HB 728 – Report with amendmentPassed
HB 998 – Report with substitutePassed
HB 1067 – ReportPassed
HB 840 – ReportPassed
HB 931 – Report with substitute, referred to AppropriationsPassed
HB 976 – Report with substitutePassed
HB 1292 – Report with substitutePassed
HB 1304 – Report with amendmentsPassed
HB 1318 – Report with substitutePassed
HB 1223 – Continue to 2027Passed
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TranscriptPreview
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome Delegate Rodney Willett, your chair this morning for the full meeting of Health and Human Services. And we're going to do the roll. Thank you. And we'll close the roll. Hold on. Okay, I think we can close. I think we're good. Again, good morning. Very full agenda, but thank everyone for being here. Wanted to jump right in. We've got a couple bills to be here in the full committee and then we'll jump to the subcommittee of reports and that will be the bulk of it. I see Doug and Anthony here. So we'll just jump right to her bill, which is HB 1452. We appreciate you coming back. I think had a couple questions, but I think we're looking in a good place now and so glad you're here this morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I do have a substitute. We have a motion that's been properly seconded for a substitute for HP 1452. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? No. That's before us. Thank you. Thank you. So here is the the new substitute for House Bill 1452. After continued discussions with DMAS and stakeholders and…
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