diff --git a/scrapers/va/bills.py b/scrapers/va/bills.py
index fccdd9ca92..2a4afd9cc8 100644
--- a/scrapers/va/bills.py
+++ b/scrapers/va/bills.py
@@ -70,8 +70,15 @@ def scrape(self, session=None):
             # the short title on the VA site is 'description',
             # LegislationTitle is on top of all the versions
             title = row["Description"]
-            subtitle = self.text_from_html(row["LegislationTitle"])
-            description = self.text_from_html(row["LegislationSummary"])
+            # these properties can occasionally be null
+            if row["LegislationTitle"] is not None:
+                subtitle = self.text_from_html(row["LegislationTitle"])
+            else:
+                subtitle = None
+            if row["LegislationSummary"] is not None:
+                description = self.text_from_html(row["LegislationSummary"])
+            else:
+                description = None
 
             bill = Bill(
                 row["LegislationNumber"],
@@ -86,8 +93,10 @@ def scrape(self, session=None):
             self.add_carryover_related_bill(bill)
             self.add_sponsors(bill, row["Patrons"])
             yield from self.add_votes(bill, row["LegislationID"])
-            bill.add_abstract(subtitle, note="title")
-            bill.add_abstract(description, row["SummaryVersion"])
+            if subtitle is not None:
+                bill.add_abstract(subtitle, note="title")
+            if description is not None:
+                bill.add_abstract(description, row["SummaryVersion"])
 
             bill.extras["VA_LEG_ID"] = row["LegislationID"]
 
@@ -163,12 +172,17 @@ def add_versions(self, bill: Bill, legislation_id: str):
             "sessionCode": self.session_code,
             "legislationID": legislation_id,
         }
-        page = requests.get(
+        response = requests.get(
             f"{self.base_url}/LegislationText/api/getlegislationtextbyidasync",
             params=body,
             headers=self.headers,
             verify=False,
-        ).json()
+        )
+        # occasionally this returns empty response, HTTP 204
+        if len(response.text) == 0:
+            return
+
+        page = response.json()
 
         for row in page["TextsList"]:
             if (row["PDFFile"] and len(row["PDFFile"]) > 1) or (