Bill > HB1031

This bill establishes the Commission on Legislature Modernization, a temporary legislative body designed to study and improve the Virginia General Assembly's operations every 10 years, specifically in years ending in four. The Commission will consist of 17 members, including 9 legislators (5 from the House of Delegates and 4 from the Senate) and 6 nonlegislative citizen members representing diverse populations such as people with disabilities, seniors, rural Virginians, young persons, people of color, women, new Americans, military families, labor, and business communities. The Commission will meet at least four times per year and is tasked with analyzing opportunities to expand citizen participation in the legislative process, improving legislative staff recruitment and development, accessing relevant expertise, and gathering data to enhance the legislature's effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness, and transparency. Members will serve two-year terms, with legislative members' terms coinciding with their elected terms, and no nonlegislative citizen member may serve more than four consecutive two-year terms. The Commission will submit an executive summary after its first year and a final report after two years, including recommendations for legislative actions, and will then terminate. If not separately funded in the appropriation act, the Commission may be funded through the Clerks' operating budgets with Joint Rules Committee approval, and will expire if funding is not secured.