The State legislature or legislative branch is called the General Assembly. It is a bicameral legislature composed of an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the House of Delegates. This legislative body has been in continuous existence since 1619 and is believed to be the oldest one in the Anglo-Saxon world and the second oldest Parliament in the entire world.
The Constitution requires that the Senate consist of not more than forty and not less than thirty-three members, elected quadrennially (once every four years). There are forty members in the present State Senate, and their term of office is four years. They are elected to office by the qualified voters of the State Senatorial Districts on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November of every other odd-numbered year in which the Governor is not elected. Therefore, they are elected during the mid-term of the Governor. The State Constitution requires that the House of Delegates consist of not more than one hundred and not less than ninety members. In the present House of Delegates, there are one hundred members, and their term of office is two years. Members of the House are elected to office by the qualified voters of the State House districts on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of every odd-numbered year. Both the Senatorial and House of Delegates Districts are set up by the General Assembly in that a special commission is appointed by the governor to do the districting: this commission membership must be approved by the General Assembly. The Constitution requires that reapportionment or redistricting take place every ten years to offset population changes. The last reapportionment was made in 1952; therefore, the next reapportionment or redistricting is due in 1962. There are now thirty-six State Senatorial Districts, thirty-three of which are entitled to one Senator each and seventy-six House of Delegates' districts, sixty-two of which are entitled to one Delegate each.
Any qualified voter living in a Senatorial or in a House district is eligible for election from that district to the General Assembly. However, no General Assembly member can hold any other public office at the same time or be elected by this assembly to any civil office of profit in the state during his term of office. Likewise, an individual who holds a federal government or state government salaried office or employment or the position of court judge, Commonwealth attorney, sheriff, sergeant, treasurer, assessor of taxes, commissioner of revenue, collector of taxes, or court clerk cannot be a member of either house of the General Assembly during his continuance in office. If such an individual is elected to either house of the General Assembly, his former office must be vacated. Two Constitutional requirements are necessary: the individual must be a qualified voter and must live in the district he represents.
The salaries of the members of the General Assembly are fixed by law and are paid from the public treasury. Any act passed which provides for an increase of legislative salary cannot take effect until the end of the term for which the members voting thereon were elected. The present salary is $1080 per regular sixty-day biennial session (plus $720 for expenses) for the House of Delegates members and for the State Senators and $1,260 for the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the President of the Senate.
The General Assembly meets at Richmond in regular session once every two years on the second Wednesday in January in even-numbered years, directly following the election of the members of the House of Delegates. The maximum number of days in the regular session is sixty, but a session may be extended not longer than thirty days if three-fifths of the members of each house concur. The usual session, however, is sixty days in length. A special session may be called at any time by proclamation of the Governor on his own initiative or by him at the request of two-thirds of the members of both houses. Neither house can, without the consent of the other, adjourn to another place nor for more than three days while a session is still in progress. A quorum is necessary to do business and a majority of the members of each house is considered as a quorum. However, a small number may adjourn from day to day and they have the power to compel the attendance of members according to the rules established by each house individually. The House must organize itself at the outset of each session because its members have been elected the preceding November. The Clerk of the previous House serves until a new chairman has been chosen. Therefore, the Clerk calls the House to order, calls the roll, and officially swears in the members.
The chairman of the House of Delegates is called the Speaker: he is chosen by the House of Delegates members after a party caucus. The chairman of the Senate is called the President of the Senate and the Lieutenant-Governor automatically serves as chairman. In the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor or whenever he finds it necessary to carry out the office of Governor, the Senate chooses a president pro tempore (president for-the-time-being) from its own membership. Each house of the General Assembly selects its own officers (Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, two Door Keepers), settles its rules of procedures and directs writs of election for filling vacancies which may occur during the General Assembly's session. If vacancies occur during the recess period when the General Assembly is not in session, the Governor may issue writs of election as prescribed by law. Each house is responsible for determining its own rules and for judging the election, qualifications, and returns of its own members; each house may punish its members for disorderly conduct and may expel a member whenever two-thirds of its members so concur.
The members of the General Assembly are entitled to certain privileges. They are free from arrest during the session of their particular house except in cases of treason, felony (a serious crime) or breach of the peace. They cannot be questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in which they participate in either house. Furthermore, they are free from arrest under any civil process during the regular sessions of the General Assembly and during the fifteen days directly preceding or directly following the session.
Each house of the General Assembly must keep a journal of its proceedings and must publish it from time to time. Whenever one-fifth of the members present express a desire to have the "yeas" and "nays" of their members on a specific question recorded, such information must be entered in the journal. The Clerk of each house has this important duty of journal-keeping. In addition, the Clerk also prepares the payroll, keeps the docket and supervises the printing of the legislative acts—hence, he is often called the "Keeper of the Rolls" of the Commonwealth.
As mentioned earlier, the chief purpose of any legislative body is to make laws. In Virginia, every law must be introduced in the form of a bill. There are six major steps in the process whereby a bill becomes a law:
(1) A bill may originate in either house. The legislator who sponsors it is called the "Patron." It is customary for all appropriation bills to be introduced in the House of Delegates; the Clerk of the house in which it originated assigns a number to it. No regular bill can be introduced after the beginning of the last three weeks of a session.
(2) The bill is then referred to the proper committee of each house. There are twenty-one standing committees in the Senate and thirty-four standing committees in the House of Delegates. In addition, there are a few joint standing committees—Senators and Delegates serving together on a committee—including an auditing committee, nominations and confirmations committee, printing committee and a library committee. The bill is considered carefully by the proper committee and then reported back to the Clerk of the House.
(3) The bill is then printed by the house in which it originated. The original bill is sent directly to the printer, and the copies are usually then printed and distributed to the members the next day. When the Clerk, having received the committee report, places the bill an the calendar, it is called the first reading and only the title of the bill is read at this time.
(4) The bill is read in its entirety when its turn comes on the calendar and the "Patron" explains carefully its contents. Detailed discussion may take place and amendment, rejection, referral to another committee for further study or approval occurs. If the bill is approved, it is then sent to be engrossed—the contents of the bill is pasted on a large sheet of paper with the amendments or suggestions included in the proper place for final examining. This entire procedure is called the second reading.
(5) The third reading takes place when the bill is being considered for final passage. The bill must be passed in both houses in a recorded vote of "aye" or "nay" on a roll call with a majority of "ayes" from those voting: at least two-fifths of the members elected to each house must be participants in the voting. This is performed in Virginia by an electric voting machine. The names of the members voting for and against must be entered on the official journal of each house. Thus, a bill may be approved or rejected by either house. Frequently, a conference committee has to be appointed to smooth out differences between the two houses in regards to the details of a bill.
(6) After the bill has been passed by both houses, it is enrolled—that is, printed in final form—and signed by the presiding officer of each house in the presence of the house members. The bill is then sent to the Governor for his consideration. (See Article V concerning the Executive Department.)