Be On The Record
BlogSign inSubscribe
HearingsBillsAlerts
← Hearings

Health and Human Services

Thursday, February 19, 2026·42m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Virginia House Committee on Health and Human Services advanced the majority of its Senate bill docket, reporting out measures on medical cannabis in hospitals, the right to contraception, psilocybin rescheduling, and neonatal care standards, while referring several bills to other committees and sending SB308 back to Appropriations after a reconsideration prompted by a conformity note received mid-session.

Key Actions

·SB64 – Juvenile Justice Indeterminate CommitmentNo Vote

+ 17 more actions

Controversies

SB332 – Scope of cannabis products covered in hospital medical cannabis bill

Chair Price asked Senator Favola whether she would be amenable to including gummies, tinctures, and other forms beyond oil. An unidentified speaker asked why the version was made more narrow given prior support for a broader approach. Senator Favola responded that the hospital community and the Medical Society of Virginia wanted to track only oil to avoid issues with the federal Controlled Substance Act, and that hospitals receiving federal funds including Medicaid match and Medicare were concerned their federal revenue sources would be at risk. Chair Tran also stated that a few members believed the committee should conform to the House version to get the bills into conference.

+ 3 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“The hospital community and the Medical Society of Virginia wanted it to track with just the oil right now because they didn't want to get in trouble with the federal Control Substance Act. And the hospitals are also receiving federal funds, both a Medicaid match as well as Medicare. And they were afraid that some of their federal revenue sources would be at risk with that response.”

Senator Favola — Senator Favola was explaining to Chair Price and an unidentified member why SB332, the medical cannabis bill, was limited to oil and did not cover broader cannabis products such as gummies or tinctures.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Refer SB64 to Public SafetyPassed
Refer SB225 to Labor and CommercePassed
Refer SB642 to Labor and CommercePassed
Refer SB258 to General LawsPassed
Report block of nine bills (SB194, SB212, SB239, SB247, SB513, SB514, SB608, SB641, SB706)Passed
Report SB178Passed
Report SB722Passed
Report SB22Passed
Adopt substitute for SB75Passed
Report SB75 with substitutePassed
Adopt substitute for SB133Passed
Report SB133 with substitutePassed
Adopt amendment for SB248Passed
Report SB248 with amendmentPassed
Adopt amendment for SB282Passed
Report SB282 with amendmentPassed
Adopt substitute for SB291Passed
Report SB291 with substitutePassed
Adopt substitute for SB308Passed
Report SB308 with substitute (initial)Passed
Reconsider prior vote on SB308Passed
Report SB308 with substitute referred to Appropriations (after reconsideration)Passed
Report SB379Passed
Adopt amendment for SB677Passed
Report SB677 with amendmentPassed
Adopt substitute for SB596Passed
Report SB596 with substitutePassed
Adopt substitute for SB332Passed
Report SB332 with substitutePassed
Unlock the full summary

Subscribe to see all key actions, controversies, quotes, and what's next.

Sign in to subscribe
TranscriptPreview
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the full Committee of Health and Human Services. I'm your chair, Delegate Rodney Willett. Great to have everyone here this morning. We got to catch our breath a little bit after some very busy week last week. But we're back now with Senate bills, and we're going to move through quite a few of those today and then have one of our committees meeting. Health professions will be gathering right after we finish up here this morning. So with that, we will take the roll. Okay. And we've got a quorum. Excellent. So I'm going to start. We've got a few bills that came our way that actually need to go to other places. So I'm going to work through four bills this morning. And what we'll do is just get a motion and then a voice vote to refer these. So the first one is SB 64 from Senator for Vola. We want to refer that to Public Safety. The motion has been properly seconded to refer SB64 to public safety. All in favor say aye. The next. Yeah, I'll do that. In the next one, we have SB225 and then also SB642.…
Continue reading

Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and search across all Virginia committee hearings.

Sign in to subscribe