Child abuse or neglect; prenatal use of a controlled substance or drug as prescribed.
Summary
Child abuse or neglect; prenatal use of a controlled substance or drug as prescribed. Clarifies that a pregnant woman's prenatal use of a controlled substance or drug as prescribed by such woman's health care provider for opioid addiction recovery shall not solely be a reason to suspect that a child is abused or neglected.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Mar 2026
Signed into Law
Apr 2026
Introduced Jan 9, 2026
Signed Apr 13, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons
What changed between versions
Enrolled
→
Chaptered
·
1 edit
MINOR
The bill was formally enacted into law as Chapter 585 of the 2026 Virginia Acts of Assembly. The substantive text of the child abuse reporting statute remains identical to the enrolled version, with no changes to who must report, penalties for failure to report, or the specific definition of prenatal substance use as abuse.
Scope change
The scope of the law remains unchanged; the text governing child abuse reporting and the definition of prenatal substance exposure is identical in both versions.
TECHNICAL
The primary difference is the addition of official legislative metadata, including the chapter number (Chapter 585), the approval date (April 13, 2026), and formatting adjustments required to convert the bill from an enrolled draft to a published statute.
Floor votes · Senate Mar 9, 2026 · House of Delegates Feb 16, 2026
How they voted
39–0
Passed
Total votes 39
Mar 9, 2026
D
Democratic20
100% Yea
R
Republican19
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
31
Key actions
12
Committee
8
Amendments
2
Apr 13, 2026
Signed into law
Approved by Governor-Chapter 585 (effective 7/1/2026)
executive
Mar 31, 2026
Lower · Passed
Signed by Speaker
lower
Mar 30, 2026
Upper · Passed
Signed by President
upper
Mar 30, 2026
Lower · Passed
Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB283ER)
lower
Mar 10, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A)
upper
Mar 9, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
upper
Mar 6, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services (11-Y 4-N)
upper
Feb 26, 2026
Committee
Rereferred from Education and Health to Rehabilitation and Social Services (13-Y 0-N)
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Education and Health
upper
Feb 16, 2026
Lower · Passed
Read third time and passed House (73-Y 25-N 0-A)
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Introduced
Engrossed by House as amended
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Lower · Passed
committee amendment agreed to
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported from Health and Human Services with amendment(s) (20-Y 2-N)
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (7-Y 1-N)
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Jan 16, 2026
Committee
Assigned sub: Social Services
lower
Jan 9, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services
lower
1 primary · 6 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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