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Release of legislative draft files Effective July 1, 2017, Virginia Code § 30-28.18 (B) was amended to specify that the legislative draft files are property of the requester, to be released only with the specific approval of the requester. In the past, files after 1989 were open to the public if the legislation was enacted. The relevant section follows:
The Division has created a form for seeking permission from owners of legislative drafting files to release such files. To obtain the contents of a legislative drafting file, please fill out the request form and email your request to Lily Jones at ljones@dls.virginia.gov. Once you have submitted this information, we will forward a completed "request for release" form to the owner of the drafting file. We will inform you if the owner has granted permission to release the file. If permission is granted, we will forward the contents that have been approved for release. Legislative history / Bill tracking information Please be reminded that the legislative history of a bill can be found by searching the Legislative Information System (LIS). Keeping in mind that legislative intent is not officially recorded in Virginia, your research to piece together the intent of a section should include: 1. Searching for Reports to the General Assembly on a topic. 2. Searching for Fiscal Impact Statements for a bill, if applicable, through the LIS. 2. Videos of floor sessions from the House and Senate are archived on the General Assembly's website, beginning with the 2017 Session.
3. Searching newspaper articles, law review articles, journals or secondary sources relating to the legislation. If you have questions, feel free to call Lily Jones, Reference Center Director, at (804) 698-1888. |
