RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly shall meet in joint session in the Hall of the House of Delegates on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at such time as specified by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, to receive the Governor of Virginia, and such address as he may desire to make, and that the rules for the government of the House of Delegates and the Senate, when convened in joint session for such purpose, shall be as follows:
Rule I. At the hour fixed for the meeting of the Joint Assembly, the Senators, accompanied by the President and the Clerk of the Senate, shall proceed to the Hall of the House of Delegates and shall be received by the Delegates standing. Appropriate seats shall be assigned to the Senators by the Sergeant at Arms of the House. The Speaker of the House of Delegates shall assign an appropriate seat for the President of the Senate.
Rule II. The Speaker of the House of Delegates shall be President of the Joint Assembly. In case it shall be necessary for the Speaker to vacate the Chair, the President of the Senate shall serve as the presiding officer.
Rule III. The Clerk of the House of Delegates shall be Clerk of the Joint Assembly and shall be assisted by the Clerk of the Senate. The Clerk of the Joint Assembly shall enter the proceedings of the Joint Assembly in the Journal of the House and shall certify a copy of the same to the Clerk of the Senate, who shall enter the same in the Journal of the Senate.
Rule IV. The Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeepers of the House shall act as such for the Joint Assembly.
Rule V. The 2018-2019 Rules of the House of Delegates as they were in effect on January 11, 2018, as far as applicable, shall be the rules of the Joint Assembly.
Rule VI. In calling the roll of the Joint Assembly, the names of the Senators shall be called in alphabetical order, then the names of the Delegates in like order, except that the name of the Speaker of the House of Delegates shall be called last.
Rule VII. If, when the Joint Assembly meets, it shall be ascertained that a majority of each house is not present, the Joint Assembly may take measures to secure the attendance of absentees, or adjourn to a succeeding day, as a majority of those present may determine.
Rule VIII. When the Joint Assembly adjourns, the Senators, accompanied by the President and the Clerk of the Senate, shall return to their chamber, and the business of the House shall be continued in the same order as at the time of the entrance of the Senators; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That notwithstanding any other provision of this resolution and in accordance with the practices of each house, with the exception of commending and memorial joint resolutions, a request to be added as a co-patron shall be received prior to the first vote on the passage of a bill or agreement to a joint resolution or, if the bill or joint resolution is not reported from committee, then prior to the last action on such legislation. A request to be removed as a co-patron shall be received no later than 3:00 p.m., Friday, February 28, 2020; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That any member offering for introduction a bill or joint resolution not submitted to the Division of Legislative Services for drafting is encouraged to submit an electronic version no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day the legislation is introduced; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That for purposes of the procedural deadlines established herein for the 2020 Regular Session of the General Assembly:
"Budget Bill" means the general appropriation bill introduced in each house that authorizes the biennial expenditure of public revenues for the period from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2020, or July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022.
"Debt bill" means any bill that authorizes the issuance of debt.
"Legislative day" means the period of time that begins with the call to order by the presiding officer and ends when declared adjourned by the presiding officer. Unless another time is specified, any deadline established in this resolution shall expire at the end of the legislative day.
"Prefiled legislation" means any bill or joint resolution requested from the Division of Legislative Services no later than 5:00 p.m., Thursday, December 5, 2019, and prefiled no later than 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 8, 2020, or any bill or joint resolution not requested from the Division of Legislative Services and prefiled no later than 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 8, 2020.
"Revenue bill" means any bill, except the Budget Bill(s) and debt bills, that increases or decreases the total revenues available for appropriation.
"Second Reference Resolution" means any joint resolution amending the Constitution of Virginia referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session immediately following a general election of members of the House of Delegates pursuant to Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution and Section 30-19 of the Code of Virginia.
"Unanimous consent" means the affirmation of all the members present in the house of origin. Any legislation intended to be offered for introduction with unanimous consent or with the written request of the Governor shall not require the consent of the house in order for the member to request the Division of Legislative Services to draft such legislation. The Division of Legislative Services shall return such legislation after the original introduction deadline.
"Virginia Retirement System bill" means any bill that amends, adds, repeals, or modifies any provision of any retirement system established in Title 51.1 of the Code of Virginia; and, be it
RESOLVED FINALLY, That the 2020 Regular Session of the General Assembly shall be governed by the following procedural rules, which establish introduction limits and time limitations for elections and for all legislation prefiled and introduced for the 2020 Regular Session except:
(i) House and Senate resolutions, except for the time limitations established in Rules 18 and 20;
(ii) Bills and joint resolutions affecting the rules of procedure or the schedule of business of the General Assembly, either of its houses, or any of its committees;
(iii) Bills and joint resolutions introduced with unanimous consent either to exceed the introduction limits established in Rule 1 or to exceed the time limitations established in Rules 2, 3, 6, and 16;
(iv) Joint resolutions confirming appointments subject to the confirmation of the General Assembly;
(v) Joint commending and memorial resolutions, except for the time limitations established in Rules 14 and 16;
(vi) Bills and joint resolutions regarding elections held by the General Assembly during the 2020 Regular Session; or
(vii) Bills and joint resolutions requested in writing by the Governor.
Rule 1. After the deadline for filing prefiled legislation established by House Joint Resolution No. 607 (2019), no member of the House of Delegates shall introduce more than a combined total of five bills and referred joint resolutions and no member of the Senate shall introduce more than a combined total of eight bills and referred joint resolutions.
Rule 2. No bill or joint resolution creating or continuing a study shall be offered in either house after adjournment of that house on Wednesday, January 8, 2020.
Rule 3. No Virginia Retirement System bill shall be offered in either house after adjournment of that house on Wednesday, January 8, 2020.
Rule 4. Except for bills and joint resolutions required to be requested earlier, requests for the drafting, redrafting, or correction of any bill or joint resolution shall be submitted to and received by the Division of Legislative Services no later than 5:00 p.m., Friday, January 10, 2020.
Rule 5. No later than Monday, January 13, 2020, each house shall begin its consideration of any election to fill any judicial seat in the courts of the Commonwealth, or to fill a seat on any commission or office elected by the General Assembly. In the event that the houses cannot agree on such election before Tuesday, January 14, 2020, such election shall become the subject of a special and continuing joint order in each house, and such special and continuing joint order shall have precedence over all other business of either house, until such time as both houses reach agreement on such election or agree to hold it at another specific time. The Rules of each house, as far as applicable, shall be the rules governing such election.
Rule 6. Except for bills required to be filed earlier, no bill or joint resolution shall be offered in either house after 3:00 p.m., Friday, January 17, 2020.
Rule 7. No later than Thursday, January 23, 2020, the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System shall submit, in accordance with § 30-19.1:7, impact statements for all Virginia Retirement System bills filed by the first day of session. For any Virginia Retirement System bill filed later than the first day of session, the Board of Trustees shall use due diligence in preparing the impact statement in time for review by the standing committees.
Rule 8. Except for the Budget Bill(s) or Second Reference Resolutions, beginning, Wednesday, February 12, 2020, the House of Delegates shall consider only Senate bills, Senate joint resolutions, House bills with Senate amendments, and House joint resolutions with Senate amendments; the Senate shall consider only House bills, House joint resolutions, Senate bills with House amendments, and Senate joint resolutions with House amendments; and each house may consider conference reports and other privileged matters relating thereto to the end that the work of each house may be disposed of by the other.
Rule 9. The committees responsible for the consideration of the Budget Bill(s) in the houses of introduction shall complete their work on such bill(s) no later than midnight, Sunday, February 16, 2020, and any amendments proposed by such committees shall be made available to their respective houses no later than noon, Tuesday, February 18, 2020.
Rule 10. The houses of introduction shall complete their consideration of the Budget Bill(s) and Second Reference Resolutions, except for conference reports and other privileged matters relating thereto, no later than Thursday, February 20, 2020.
Rule 11. The committees responsible for consideration of revenue bills of the other house shall complete their consideration of such bills no later than midnight, Tuesday, February 25, 2020.
Rule 12. No later than midnight, Wednesday, February 26, 2020, each house shall complete consideration of the Budget Bill(s) and all revenue bills of the other house, except for conference reports and other privileged matters relating thereto, and the appointing authority shall appoint the conferees to such bills.
Rule 13. No later than Wednesday, February 26, 2020, each house shall begin its consideration of any election to fill any judicial seat in the courts of the Commonwealth, or to fill a seat on any commission or office elected by the General Assembly. In the event that the houses cannot agree on such election before Thursday, February 27, 2020, such election shall become the subject in each house of a special and continuing joint order, and such special and continuing joint order shall have precedence over all other business of either house, until such time as both houses reach agreement on such election or either house votes to suspend or discharge the order. The Rules of each house, as far as applicable, shall be the rules governing any such election.
Rule 14. Requests for the drafting, redrafting, or correction of any joint commending or memorial resolution shall be submitted to and received by the Division of Legislative Services no later than 5:00 p.m., Thursday, February 27, 2020.
Rule 15. Any conference committee on any revenue bills shall complete its deliberations and make the report of such conference available to the General Assembly as soon as practicable.
Rule 16. No joint commending or memorial resolution shall be offered in either house after 5:00 p.m., Monday, March 2, 2020.
Rule 17. Except for Second Reference Resolutions, beginning
Beginning Tuesday, March 3, 2020, neither house shall receive
from any committee any bill or joint resolution acted on by any committee later
than midnight, Monday, March 2, 2020.
Rule 18. Requests for the drafting, redrafting, or correction of any single-house commending or memorial resolution shall be submitted to and received by the Division of Legislative Services no later than 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
Rule 19. Any conference committee on the Budget Bill(s) shall complete its deliberations and make the report of such conference available to the General Assembly as soon as practicable. In accordance with House Rule 75(b) and Senate Rule 39(a), neither house shall receive, consider, or vote on any Budget Bill that is in conference unless it has been agreed to in writing by a majority of conferees from each house. Neither house shall consider such conference report earlier than 48 hours after receipt, unless both houses respectively determine to proceed earlier by a vote of two-thirds of the members voting in each house. No engrossment of the Budget Bill(s) shall be required in either house, and any conference on the Budget Bill(s) shall consider, as the basis of its deliberations, the Budget Bill(s) as recommended by the Governor and introduced in the House and the amendments thereto proposed by each house. A report shall be issued concurrently with the report of the conference committee that identifies the following by item number, narrative description, and dollar amount: (i) any nonstate agency appropriation, (ii) any item in the conference report that was not included in a general appropriation bill as passed by either the House or the Senate, and (iii) any item that represents legislation that failed in either house during the regular or a special session.
Rule 20. No single-house commending or memorial resolution shall be offered in either house after 5:00 p.m., Thursday, March 5, 2020.
Rule 21. Except for joint resolutions affecting the rules of
procedure or the schedule of business of the General Assembly or joint
resolutions that are Second Reference Resolutions, beginning Friday, March
6, 2020, the House shall consider only Senate joint resolutions and House joint
resolutions with Senate amendments; the Senate shall consider only House joint
resolutions and Senate joint resolutions with House amendments; and each house
may consider conference reports or joint resolutions and other privileged
matters relating thereto, to the end that the work of each house may be
disposed of by the other.
Rule 22. This session of the General Assembly shall adjourn sine die no later than the legislative day of Saturday, March 7, 2020.
Rule 23. Pursuant to Section 6 of Article IV of the Constitution of Virginia, the General Assembly shall reconvene Wednesday, April 22, 2020, for the purpose of considering bills that may have been returned by the Governor with recommendations for their amendment and bills and items of appropriation bills, including the general appropriation act, that may have been returned by the Governor with his objections.
Rule 24. Pursuant to Section 7 of Article IV of the Constitution of Virginia, legislative continuity is hereby provided for between sessions occurring during the terms for which members of the House of Delegates are elected, in conformity with the Rules of the House of Delegates and the Rules of the Senate.
Rule 25. The conduct of the business of any subcommittee of any House committee, any joint subcommittee of House and Senate committees, and any interim study commission created pursuant to a House measure shall be governed by the Rules of the House of Delegates; the conduct of the business of any subcommittee of any Senate committee, any joint subcommittee of Senate and House committees, and any interim study commission created pursuant to a Senate measure shall be governed by the Rules of the Senate. If a House measure and a Senate measure create the same study, the conduct of business of the study shall be governed by the rules of the house of the chairman of the study, or in the case of co-chairmen, the rules of the house as agreed upon by the co-chairmen.
Rule 26. Interim meetings of any standing committee, joint committee, joint subcommittee, legislative commission, or any other interim study subcommittee or study commission shall be held on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday during the first and third full weeks of the month, unless otherwise authorized by the Speaker of the House of Delegates or the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules, as may be appropriate for the house in which the chairman serves.
Rule 27. Any staff member assigned to work for, and support the efforts of, any committee of the House or Senate, any subcommittee of any such committee, any joint subcommittee of House and Senate committees, or any interim study commission shall work under the direction of the chairman of such committee, subcommittee, joint subcommittee, or interim study commission.
Rule 28. The standing committees of the General Assembly shall complete their consideration of all legislation continued by them from the 2020 Regular Session no later than midnight, Thursday, December 3, 2020.