In 1914 the
Virginia General Assembly created, within the Office of the Attorney
From 1968 to 1975, the findings and recommendations of the Legislative Process Commission brought about as many changes in Virginia’s legislative processes as had been made during the previous 200 years. This Commission concluded that the General Assembly needed greater research capabilities. As a result of the Commission’s recommendations, in 1973 the Division of Statutory Research and Drafting was redesignated the Division of Legislative Services, changing it from a purely legal service agency to a legal and general service agency. In 1975 the Division was given the responsibility of providing both legal and research staff support to all standing committees of both houses of the General Assembly. In response to its enhanced mission, the Division added professionals of disciplines other than law to its staff beginning in 1972; organized into operational teams, each specializing in a specific subject area; and began the development of a legislative reference library. In 1989, under new leadership, the Division was organized into operational sections, currently Business and Jurisprudence; Finance and Government; and Rules, Education, Elections and Special Projects. The Division’s major responsibilities are (i) conducting legal and general research; (ii) drafting legislation; (iii) providing staff support to all standing committees and legislative study committees, subcommittees and commissions; (iv) evaluating the constitutionality and legal effects of legislation; and (v) performing various other member services. The Division's mission is to assist legislators in fulfilling their duties and obligations as members of the General Assembly. This is accomplished by providing clear, concise, and objective information to all 140 members of the General Assembly.
Primary Functions:
The Division is in the charge of a Director who serves at the pleasure of and is appointed by the House and Senate Committees on Rules, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The Director is statutorily required to be a graduate of an accredited law school. As a legislative agency, the Division is under the general supervision of the Joint Rules Committee. The operational part of the Division is divided into three sections, each responsible for various subject matter areas: Business and Jurisprudence; Finance and Government; and Rules, Education, Elections and Special Projects. In addition, there are three internal support sections encompassing fiscal and personnel matters, library and reference services, and responsibility for providing staff to the Virginia Code Commission and publishing the Virginia Register of Regulations. Each section is headed by a manager. The six managers and the Director comprise the management team used for planning and directing the Division’s long term objectives and policy.
Although some legislation derives from interim legislative studies, most bills and resolutions are drafted at the request of individual legislators. These requests are submitted either in person, by mail, or by e-mail. It is recommended that the individual legislator personally talk with a member of the Division’s staff, preferably the drafter, to ensure that all policies and purposes to be incorporated into the legislation are understood before drafting commences. Following this procedure avoids delays and misinterpretations. As soon as a drafting request is received, a legislative drafting number is assigned, key information is logged into the Division’s computerized internal bill tracking system, and the request is communicated to the appropriate section for drafting. The legislation is drafted either by an attorney or an experienced research associate within the section, using the Division’s fully computerized bill drafting process. If the bill is not initially drafted by an attorney, it must be substantively evaluated and checked for legal accuracy by an attorney. After drafting, the bill goes through a quality control and proofreading process. The bill product is then given a final check by the drafter and reviewed by the section supervisor. Sufficient copies are made and one copy is put in covers for introduction. The color of the covers indicates the following: White: The legislation was drafted by staff of the Division or the draft submitted has been thoroughly reviewed by Division staff, and in either instance found to be legally correct and in conformance with existing laws of the Commonwealth. Gray: In the opinion of the Director and at least two other Division attorneys, the legislation contains a constitutional problem. Once the process is complete, the bill is either mailed to the patron, delivered to the member’s legislative office in the General Assembly Building, or picked up by a member or a member’s aide at the Division’s office. Legislative Summaries. The drafter of requested legislation also prepares a summary of the major features of the proposed legislation. The summary is printed on the cover of the draft legislation that is delivered to the patron. Pursuant to § 30-19.03:2 of the Code of Virginia, legilsative summaries do not "constitute a part of the legislation considered, agreed to, or enacted and shall not be used to indicate or infer legislative intent." Drafting requests should be submitted as soon as possible after a need is determined. When the Division receives bill requests before the session begins, the staff is able to give the detailed and personal service that each request deserves. When the request has been assigned to the appropriate drafter, com-munication can be established with the legislator to ensure that all purposes are fully understood and problems or ambiguities are resolved. When there is time, a rough draft can be sent to the patron, who can then review the draft with others who have an interest in the legislation and necessary modifications may be made as needed. Most requests for the drafting of legislation are received by the Division just prior to the December deadline for legislation to be prefiled or soon after the session begins. Hundreds are received only a few days before the procedural deadline for receiving drafting requests. As a result, time constraints prevent the more complex legislation from receiving the attention required for quality work. The development of good legislation prevents unnecessary delays in the legislative process and enables the patron to present the legislation effectively and with confidence before committees and in the chambers. Beginning November 1 and continuing to the deadline for introduction, a periodic 60-character listing of legislation received from each member to date is forwarded with a letter of encouragement to get drafting requests in early. This listing serves the two-fold purpose of assisting the member in organizing and monitoring the status of previous requests while providing a safety net to the Division in ensuring that legislative drafting requests have not been overlooked.
The drafting of legislation, as well as other services of the Division, is treated confidentially, except (i) when a drafting request is substantially the same as one previously received, the subsequent requester may be advised of the earlier request, and (ii) the nature of a request may be revealed when the drafter is seeking information from another resource to assist in the drafting of the proposal. These exceptions will not be made, however, in any case where the patron specifically requests strict confidentiality. Beginning with bills drafted for the 1989 Session, all materials related to the drafting request that are contained in the Division’s file become public record after a bill is enacted into law. Upon written request and payment of a modest sum to cover duplication costs, the Division must furnish copies of the file to any person so requesting after the effective date of the legislation. This requirement is statutorily contained in § 30-28.18 of the Code of Virginia. Bills drafted prior to 1989 are confidential and permission of the patron must be obtained before the file can be produced.
Bills prepared by the Division may be introduced into either house of the General Assembly. House resolutions and House joint resolutions may be introduced only into the House of Delegates; Senate resolutions and Senate joint resolutions may be introduced only into the Senate. Legislation may be introduced during sessions only by members of the General Assembly by signing the covered copy and handing it, along with two copies of the bill or resolution, to the clerk of the appropriate house while such houses are in session. The covered copy may be signed by as many copatrons as the patron desires. Both Delegates and Senators may be copatrons of bills or resolutions introduced into either the Senate or the House of Delegates. Any member or member-elect of the General Assembly may prefile a bill or resolution at any time within 60 days prior to the first regular session following the election of members of the House of Delegates and within 180 days prior to other regular sessions by mailing or delivering the signed copy and two additionsl copies to the appropriate Clerk of the House or Senate. Special provisions are applicable to requesting bills for prefiling. Prefiling saves the Commonwealth money in the form of reduced printing costs and enables the Division greater time to prepare a quality draft. It also facilitates the orderly flow of bills through the legislative process. Limitations on bill introductions do not apply to prefiled bills. However, pursuant to House Rule 37, "No member [of the House] may introduce more than 15 bills during the Regular Session of an odd-numbered year." Special Provisions: Any bill that (i) grants a municipal charter, (ii) amends an existing municipal charter, or (iii) affects any optional form of county organization and government must be prefiled or introduced no later than the first day of any session. No charter bill may be introduced unless either an election or a public hearing has been conducted on the charter or charter changes. Other bills which must be pre-filed or filed on the first day of the session are (1) personal relief (claims) bills, (2) bills exempting property from local property taxation, (3) bills exempting sales from the Virginia Retail Sales and Use Tax Act, (4) bills mandating an additional net expenditure (as defined in § 30-19.03:1) by any local government, (5) bills resulting in a net increase in periods of imprisonment in state correctional facilities (see below), and (6) bills affecting the Virginia Retirement System, State Police Officers’ Retirement System, or Judicial Retirement System. Other statutory requirements provide that the patron must supply the chairman of the standing committee with certain information before the standing committee may consider property tax exemption and sales tax exemption legislation. For certain sales tax exemptions, a questionnaire must be completed and sent to the Department of Taxation by November 1 prior to the session. (See Code of Virginia §§ 30-19.05, 30-19.1:1, 30-19.1:2 and 30-19.1:3.) Division staff will assist members in meeting all statutory requirements relative to this special legislation. Bills increasing the period of imprisonment in a state correctional facility require a fiscal impact statement to be printed on the face of the bill (§ 30-19.1:4). A member should immediately present to the Division any request needing such an impact statement to enable the orderly processing of the bill and a determination of fiscal impact. In addition to the covered copy and index copy of the bills members receive from the Division, the bill package will also contain one additional copy of the legislation for members’ personal use. A concise legislative summary of the bill is printed on the cover of each bill.
Members
of the Division’s staff prepare amendments to legislation offered
through standing committees or individual legislators. Members may
present amendments to the standing committees for their adoption
or they may introduce the amendments in the chamber. The majority
of amendments are line-by-line amendments, i.e., instructions to
strike or add language at particular places in the printed bills
or resolutions. Line-by-line amendments should be drafted on specially
printed forms which can be obtained through the committee clerks.
Line-by-line amendments are preferred to substitutes whenever they can be used without confusion because: 1. Line-by-line amendments are easy to prepare and can be quickly disseminated. Often line-by-line amendments are drafted on pre-printed forms, read and adopted by the committee during the same committee meeting in which they are first discussed. 2. Line-by-line amendments clearly indicate all of the changes made, while substitutes do not. 3. The expense of substitutes is often quite high. A large amount of paper is required for in-house printing, especially if additional copies are required. All substitutes that are adopted by committees are reprinted (in quantities of 1300 copies) usually on a “rush” basis costing twice as much as customary printing. Committee amendments, both line-by-line and substitutes, should be delivered to the Clerk of the House or Senate by the committee clerk as soon as the bill is reported out of committee. Any member who wishes to offer a floor amendment, either line-by-line or substitute, should present copies to the Clerk of the House or Senate as soon as possible to ensure that necessary copies can be reproduced for other members of his house.
Whenever a bill or resolution passes both houses, but in different versions, and each house rejects the version of the other house, a committee of conference may be appointed to resolve the matter or matters of disagreement on the particular bill or resolution. Such committees will consist of three members of the House appointed by the Speaker and three members of the Senate appointed by the chairperson of the Senate standing committee that considered the bill or resolution. Consideration of the committee of conference is restricted only to the matters of disagreement between the two houses. If, after consideration, a majority of the conferees agree to resolve the matters under disagreement, a member of the Division staff will draft the conference report. The report will recommend that the amendments to the bill or resolution in disagreement either be accepted or rejected; the report may also include additional amendments to resolve the matters of disagreement. The report will be prepared in six copies and signed by each member of the committee who agrees with it. Members are permitted to include a dissenting statement to the report. Three copies of the signed report are sent to each house. If both the House and the Senate approve the report, the bill is passed and action is completed. If either house rejects the report, the measure fails and legislative action is terminated unless another committee of conference for the same measure is requested and approved by both houses.
Staff of the Division are encouraged to serve aggressively. Quality of performance, product, and service orientation are major factors on which all staff are evaluated. As established by the provisions of the annual procedural resolution, staff assigned to a particular project follow the direction of the chairperson of the committee, subcommittee, or commission for purposes of conducting the study or completing the project assignment. The Division provides legal and research staff services to each standing committee of both the Senate and House of Delegates except the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. These two committees have their own permanent staff, but the Division does provide legal services for the two "money committees" as they may require. This responsibility extends year around, both during the session and the interim. Ideally, one or more assigned staff attend each standing committee meeting, but there will be times when a substitute must be used. Staff members will also attend subcommittee meetings; however, when many committees are meeting at the same time, it may be impossible to provide continuity of staff for each subcommittee meeting. Almost all interim legislative studies are conducted by one or more standing committees or subcommittees. The Division provides professional staff, both research and legal, for each of these study groups. It is the duty of the Offices of the Clerks of the House and Senate to furnish clerical and administrative support as they do during sessions. The Clerks' Offices also schedule and give notices of meetings, pay expenses and reimbursements to members, and issue press releases, which are often drafted by Division staff. Members of study groups should coordinate all administrative and clerical matters directly with representatives of the Clerks' Offices. The Division provides complete staff support, clerical and administrative as well as professional, to the Virginia Code Commission, the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission, and the Water Commission, all of which are permanent legislative agencies.
The Division's staff has access to a variety of information resources. Immediate access is provided to the Division's Legislative Reference Library, the Library of Virginia, and the State Law Library. Through cooperative agreements with the Division's library, the staff may obtain materials from libraries throughout the Commonwealth and the nation. Some of the types of research and analysis the staff performs included (i) compiling and analyzing Virginia law on particular subjects; (ii) analyzing and summarizing specific federal laws or specific laws of other states; (iii) summarizing and analyzing administrative regulations (federal and state); (iv) analyzing reports, studies, and proposed legislation from other states; (v) analyzing policies and developing ideas and concepts fostered by committees, subcommittees, or individual members; and (vi) answering other types of legislative inquiries from members.
The reference center's collection supports the research efforts of the members of the General Assembly and the Division's staff through its reference sources and computer data services. Reference materials concerning Virginia law and legislation such as the Code of Virginia, the Acts of Assembly, House and Senate Journals, bound volumes of bills and resolutions considered by the General Assembly, House ans Senate Documents, Legislative Impact Statements, opinions of Virginia appellate and circuit courts, Michie's Jurisprudence, and Attorney General opinions and law reviews from all of the Virginia law schools are available. The collection also includes current statutes from other states such as New York, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Maryland, in addition to the United States Code. Materials used by the Division's staff in compiling data for legislative reports are also kept in the reference center, as well as publications from the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments. Popular news sources in the form of periodicals and journals concerning state and local government are a permanent component of the reference center's collection. The reference center's collection is enhanced through subscriptions to servera data services including Westlaw and LEXIS legal databases, and Dialog, which provided access to newspapers and information sources throughout the country. Internet access is also available. The reference center is open 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday and as necessary when the General Assembly is in session. Members of the General Assembly and their staff have complete access to the reference center's resources. A full-time Supervisor/Historian and a part-time staff of Capitol Guides offer free guided tours of the Virginia State Capitol daily. The Capitol is a registered state and national landmark that attracts visitors from around the world. The tour staff typically provides services to more than 100,000 visitors a year, including school children.
The Director of the Division serves as a member of the Virginia Code Commission and provides staff for its support. This Commission oversees the processing of regulations pursuant to the Administrative Process Act and the filing of regulations under the Virginia Register Act. It appoints the Registrar of Regulations, who is responsible for publishing the Virginia Register of Regulations. This is a biweekly publication which contains all proposed, final, and emergency regulations of state agencies, executive orders of the Governor, Virginia Tax Bulletins, and notices of meetings and public hearings of state agencies and legislative and study committees and subcommitteees. The Register also supplements the Virginia Administrative Code between the release of quarterly or semi-annual updates. The Division provides staff support to the Code Commission in codifying the regulations in the Virginia Administrative Code. That staff works closely with the legal publisher to produce the Administrative Code and its supplements. The Division provides staff support to the Administrative Law Advisory Committee, established by the General Assembly in 1994 to help the Code Commission monitor the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of the Commonwealth's regulatory process. The Committee sponsors administrative law conferences and reports to the Code Commission, the Governor, and the General Assembly. The Division also provides general staff support the to Code Commission in fulfillment of its other statutory responsibilities of codifying the acts of the General Assembly and revising major portions of the Code of Virginia. The operational sections of the Division provide specialized staff support for recodifications of designated titles and provide other assistance as required.
Session Summary: Mailed to the legislators within two weeks of the session's adjournment, the Summary contains brief descriptions of all bills the legislators considered that year. The summaries are arranged according to Code section topic and are subdivided within each category according to whether the bill passed, failed, or was carried over. The summary is especially useful in preparing speeches to constituent groups following the legislative session. Newsletters: During the interim between legislative sessions, the Division publishes the Legislative Record, which reports on the deliberations of legislative commissions and joint subcommittees and includes the "Regulatory Alert," a brief and timely summary of rules proposed by agencies, boards, and commissions. In addition, the Division's Issue Briefs report on issues of interest to legislators throughout the year and provide members of the General Assembly with an annual summary of issues likely to be discussed at the upcoming legislative session. The DLS Report provides members with background information on a variety of issues. Distributed to members on the final day of the regular session, Session Highlights provides a brief summary of significant legislation considered by the General Assembly. At the reconvened session, the Division publishes a sumary of the Governor's amendments and vetoes. Finally, In Due Course, distributed in June, is designed to inform constituents of new laws that will take effect on July 1 of each year. Legislator's Guides: Since 1989, the Division has published a series of Legislator's Guides to various policy areas. Guides currently are available for state and local taxation, transportation, social services, and education. During the 2009 Session, a Guide to Ethics in Virginia will be published. The Guides are designed to provide legislators with a convenient, accessible, and comprehensive source of information, and are updated or revised as needed to remain current with changes in law and policy. All Division publications are available at http://dls.virginia.gov/publications.htm. The computer mapping and redistricting staff provides specialized and generalized geographic information systems (GIS) services to the members of the General Assembly and to the public. Among ther services the staff performs are maintaining a GIS wesite where users may view Legislative and Congressional Districts and data pertaining to those districts, supplying a system to facilitate statewide redistricting, and generating electronic and paper maps upon request.
Operational sections within the Division of Legislative Services have primary responsibility for staffing activities, conducting research, and drafting legislation regarding the following titles of the Code of Virginia: Business
and Jurisprudence Finance
and Government Rules,
Education, Elections and Special Projects
E.M.
Miller, Jr. -- Director BUSINESS AND JURISPRUDENCE
SECTION C.
William Crammé III -- Section Manager
FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT
SECTION John
Garka -- Section Manager
RULES, EDUCATION, ELECTIONS
AND SPECIAL PROJECTS SECTION
SUPPORT STAFF Michelle
Montgomery -- Operations Staff Assistant
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