General Assembly

P Passed

P HB1510
Information on proposed constitutional amendments. Requires the distribution and publication of the full text of a proposed constitutional amendment, along with the ballot question and neutral explanation of the proposed change, before the referendum on voter approval of a proposed constitutional amendment. Present law requires the State Board of Elections to distribute only the ballot question and a neutral explanation of the proposed change. The Board prepares a pamphlet for distribution at voter registration and polling sites and publishes the ballot question and neutral explanation in major newspapers in the Commonwealth.
Patron - Hull

P HB1529
General Assembly; mileage. Repeals provisions that use distances from county courthouses and city halls to calculate reimbursable mileage. Under the new standard, members of the General Assembly, members of legislative committees and officers and employees of each house who are traveling on official business of the Commonwealth shall be entitled to reimbursement for their actual mileage.
Patron - Landes

P HB2491
Local fiscal impact; reduction of revenues. Provides that whenever any bill requiring a net reduction of revenues by any locality is filed during any session of the General Assembly, the Commission on Local Government shall prepare an estimate setting forth the reduction of revenues, if any, to be required of the affected localities in event of enactment of such legislation. Under current law, a similar estimate is prepared for any bill requiring a net additional expenditure by any county, city, or town. Such bills shall be introduced no later than the first day of the session.
Patron - Day

P SB911
Impact statements. Repeals legislation adopted in 1998, with a delayed effective date of July 1, 1999, that requires the Division of Legislative Services to prepare impact statements. Currently, the Department of Planning and Budget, the Department of Taxation, the State Corporation Commission, and other agencies prepare legislative impact statements on most bills pursuant to a Governor's executive order.
Patron - Gartlan

F Failed

F HB1488
General Assembly; legislative compensation; creation of a Citizens' Advisory Commission on Legislative Compensation. Redefines and adjusts for inflation the amount received by legislators as salary and restructures the office expense allowance system to provide for greater accountability. Legislator's salary is redefined to include a regular annual salary and additional salary for attending meetings between sessions of the legislature. Beginning in January 2000, the regular salary of the General Assembly members shall be increased to $26,000 and the additional salary shall be increased to a rate of $160 per day. Both amounts are set forth in the Code so that future proposed salary increases will have to be voted upon separately from the appropriation bill. Citizen members to committees and study groups will continue to receive a compensation allowance at a rate of $50 per day. The bill also provides a separate office equipment expense allowance and an annual budgeted allowance for operating expenses of each member's district office. An amount for equipment expenses is set at a maximum of $2,500 for a four-year period. Members are required to submit a voucher and accompanying receipts prior to receiving payment for equipment expenses. An allowance for operating expenses is set at a maximum of $1,500 per month for those members maintaining a separate legislative district office outside the General Assembly Building, or the member's home or business, and $1,000 for those members who do not maintain a separate legislative office. Members must submit a declaration of need for reimbursement of office expenses and supplies with their Clerk prior to receiving the monthly allowance. The declaration shall consist of a budget for the coming year and (after the first year) an accounting of the expenses of the past year. Finally, the bill requires the Joint Rules Committee to appoint, beginning in 2002, and every four years thereafter, a temporary Citizens' Advisory Commission on Legislative Compensation to examine the salary, expenses, and benefits of members of the General Assembly and their administrative assistants and secretaries. The Commission shall report its recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, after which it shall cease to exist until a new commission is appointed three years and seven months later.
Patron - Callahan

F HB1547
General Assembly; limit on introduction of legislation. Prohibits a member from introducing more than 12 bills during any regular session of the General Assembly. The only exception is for emergency legislation introduced at the written request of the Governor or with the consent of four-fifths of the members voting in the house in which the bill is offered. Letter from the Speaker to the Joint Rules Committee to study the issue.
Patron - Purkey

F HB1791
General Assembly; legislative office expenses. Rolls back the legislative compensation for attending meetings during the interim and the office expense allowance to the pre-July 1, 1998, levels. Last year, the budget increased the interim payments from $100 to $200 and the office expense allowance from $750 to $1250. Compensation for citizen members who serve on legislative study groups is increased from the current rate of $50 to $100. The bill also provides that members of the General Assembly are entitled to a mileage reimbursement of their actual mileage while traveling on official business of the Commonwealth. The bill contains language to clarify that it overrides any conflicting provisions in the budget bill regarding interim payments and office expense allowances.
Patron - Cranwell

F HB1973
Financial forecasting act. Requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to establish an office of financial forecasting. JLARC is required to produce annual five- and ten-year forecasts of state revenues and expenditures.
Patron - McEachin

F HB2308
General Assembly; funding of new legislative study groups. Places a six-year moratorium on the use of state funds to support any legislative study group created after July 1, 1999.
Patron - Davis

F HB2416
Legislative continuances. Reduces the length of continuances granted to parties connected with the General Assembly or Division of Legislative Services. Present law provides that a party to a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding is entitled to a continuance as a matter of right during the period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after a session of the General Assembly if the party or his attorney is an officer, employee or member of the General Assembly or an employee of the Division of Legislative Services. This bill shortens that period to the time beginning 21 days before and ending 21 days after the session. The bill also shortens the comparable extension for filing deadlines to cover only the period from 21 days before until 21 days after the session. The bill provides that there will be only one continuance in any proceeding granted as a matter of right for legislative meetings held on non-session dates and the request for the continuance must be in writing. The bill provides further that a continuance for such a legislative meeting will not delay certain proceedings for more than 90 days. Those proceedings are (i) felony criminal cases, (ii) child support cases in which no support is being paid, and (iii) other cases in which the court or tribunal finds that the case merits an expedited hearing that an extended delay would cause irreparable harm.
Patron - Croshaw

F HB2612
General Assembly; compensation adjustments based on state employee increases. Requires the Governor to include in his amendments to the budget bill in the year preceding the election of all members of the General Assembly an adjustment for members' salaries and interim per diem payments. The adjustment is to be based upon the four-year cumulative percentage increases received by a majority of state employees in their base salaries resulting from across the board and performance pay increases.
Patron - Almand

F SB737
General Assembly; legislative compensation; creation of a Citizens' Advisory Commission on Legislative Compensation. Redefines and adjusts for inflation the amount received by legislators as salary and restructures the office expense allowance system to provide for greater accountability. Legislator's salary is redefined to include a regular annual salary and additional salary for attending meetings between sessions of the legislature. Beginning in January 2000, the regular salary of the General Assembly members shall be increased to $26,000 and the additional salary shall be increased to a rate of $160 per day. Both amounts are set forth in the Code so that future proposed salary increases will have to be voted upon separately from the appropriation bill. Citizen members to committees and study groups will continue to receive a compensation allowance at a rate of $50 per day. The bill also provides a separate office equipment expense allowance and an annual budgeted allowance for operating expenses of each member's district office. An amount for equipment expenses is set at a maximum of $2,500 for a four-year period. Members are required to submit a voucher and accompanying receipts prior to receiving payment for equipment expenses. An allowance for operating expenses is set at a maximum of $1,500 per month for those members maintaining a separate legislative district office outside the General Assembly Building, or the member's home or business, and $1,000 for those members who do not maintain a separate legislative office. Members must submit a declaration of need for reimbursement of office expenses and supplies with their Clerk prior to receiving the monthly allowance. The declaration shall consist of a budget for the coming year and (after the first year) an accounting of the expenses of the past year. Finally, the bill requires the Joint Rules Committee to appoint, beginning in 2002, and every four years thereafter, a temporary Citizens' Advisory Commission on Legislative Compensation to examine the salary, expenses, and benefits of members of the General Assembly and their administrative assistants and secretaries. The Commission shall report its recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, after which it shall cease to exist until a new commission is appointed three years and seven months later.
Patron - Gartlan

F SB1074
Legislative continuance. Places limitations on the right granted to members and certain employees of the General Assembly to claim a continuance in pending proceedings. A request for a continuance would have to be made in writing and given to the court and the parties at least three days prior to any scheduled proceedings. For cases involving felonies, the establishment of child support, and judicially-determined expedited matters, the bill would limit the continuance to no more than 90 days. For all other cases, the continuance, if granted, could not delay the proceeding for more than six months, unless that six-month period would expire during a legislative session. This bill is identical to Senate Bill 389.
Patron - Stolle

F SB1082
General Assembly; judicial nominations. Increases the responsibility of the Committees for Courts of Justice, the committees responsible for determining the qualification of justices and judges in the Commonwealth, in the selection process of persons elected to the Supreme Court of Virginia and Virginia Court of Appeals. In addition to qualifying candidates for these courts, the committees will be statutorily responsible for nominating qualified candidates for consideration by their respective house. The houses shall be required to consider the committee's nominations first.
Patron - Edwards

F SB1114
Revenue Resources and Economic Commission. Reactivates the Commission which was in existence for over 10 years until it was abolished in 1980. The Commission shall examine all state and local sources of revenue with regard to structure, need and equity, including the impact of phasing out the personal property tax and the potential elimination of the sales tax on food on state and local revenues.
Patron - Colgan

F SB1251
General Assembly; request deadline for first-day introduction bills. Requires that requests for the drafting, redrafting and correction of first-day introduction bills must be submitted to the Division of Legislative Services by 5:00 p.m. on the Monday prior to the convening of the session.
Patron - Holland

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