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Filing Legislation

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. 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 index copy to the appropriate Clerk of the House or Senate.

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 adult correctional facilities or periods of commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, and (6) Virginia Retirement System bills. 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 exemption bills 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, and beginning July 1, 1998, sales tax exemption bills may be considered by the General Assembly only in regular sessions convened in even-numbered years. (See Code of Virginia §§ 30-19.05, 30-19.1:1, 30-19.1:2, 30-19.1:3 and 30-19.1:7.) Bills increasing the period of imprisonment in a state adult correctional facility or periods of commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice require a fiscal impact statement to be printed on the face of the bill (§ 30-19.1:4).

In addition to the jacketed copy and index copy of the bills members receive from the Division, the bill package will also contain two additional copies of the legislation for members' personal use. A concise legislative summary of the bill is printed on the cover of each bill.

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