2025 SESSION

INTRODUCED

25103228D

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 430

Offered January 8, 2025

Prefiled December 20, 2024

Providing for a Joint Assembly and establishing a schedule for the conduct of business coming before the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly of Virginia.

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Patron—Herring

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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, 2025, 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 Rules of the House of Delegates, 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 14, 2025; 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 2025 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, 2024, through June 30, 2026.

"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., Monday, November 25, 2024, and prefiled no later than 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 8, 2025, 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, 2025.

"Revenue bill" means any bill, except the Budget Bill and debt bills, that increases or decreases the total revenues available for appropriation.

"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 2025 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 or continued to the 2025 Regular Session except:

(i) House and Senate resolutions, except for the time limitations established in Rules 19 and 21;

(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 to exceed the introduction limits in Rule 1 or to exceed the time limitations in Rules 3, 4, 7, and 17;

(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 15 and 17;

(vi) Bills, joint resolutions, or resolutions regarding elections held by the General Assembly during the 2025 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 49 (2024), no member of the House of Delegates shall introduce more than a combined total of five bills and joint resolutions and no member of the Senate shall introduce more than a combined total of six bills and joint resolutions. Notwithstanding the provisions of this rule and in accordance with House Rule 37, no member of the House of Delegates may introduce more than 15 bills during the 2025 Regular Session.

Rule 2. Neither house of the General Assembly shall receive from any committee any bill or joint resolution that was continued on the agenda of such committee and acted upon later than midnight, Monday, November 18, 2024. For purposes of this rule, a motion to refer a measure to another committee shall be treated as an action by a committee.

Rule 3. 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, 2025.

Rule 4. No Virginia Retirement System bill shall be offered in either house after adjournment of that house on Wednesday, January 8, 2025.

Rule 5. 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, 2025.

Rule 6. No later than Monday, January 13, 2025, 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, 2025, 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 7. 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, 2025.

Rule 8. No later than Friday, January 17, 2025, 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 9. Except for the Budget Bill, beginning Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 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 10. The committees responsible for consideration of the Budget Bill in the houses of introduction shall complete their work on such bill no later than midnight, Sunday, February 2, 2025, and any amendments proposed by such committees shall be made available to their respective houses no later than noon, Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

Rule 11. The houses of introduction shall complete their consideration of the Budget Bill, except for conference reports and other privileged matters relating thereto, no later than Thursday, February 6, 2025.

Rule 12. The committees responsible for the consideration of revenue bills of the other house shall complete their consideration of such bills no later than Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

Rule 13. No later than Wednesday, February 12, 2025, each house shall complete its consideration of the Budget Bill 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 14. No later than Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 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 13, 2025, 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 15. 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 13, 2025.

Rule 16. 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 17. No joint commending or memorial resolution shall be offered in either house after 5:00 p.m., Monday, February 17, 2025.

Rule 18. Beginning Tuesday, February 18, 2025, neither house shall receive from any committee any bill or joint resolution acted on by any committee later than midnight, Monday, February 17, 2025.

Rule 19. 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, February 18, 2025.

Rule 20. Any conference committee on the Budget Bill shall complete its deliberations and make the report of such conference available to the General Assembly as soon as practicable. 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 shall be required in either house, and any conference on the Budget Bill shall consider, as the basis of its deliberations, the Budget Bill 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 21. No single-house commending or memorial resolution shall be offered in either house after 5:00 p.m., Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Rule 22. Except for joint resolutions affecting the rules of procedure or the schedule of business of the General Assembly, beginning Friday, February 21, 2025, 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 23. This session of the General Assembly shall be extended beyond the 30-day period provided in Section 6 of Article IV of the Constitution of Virginia and shall adjourn sine die no later than Saturday, February 22, 2025.

Rule 24. Pursuant to Section 6 of Article IV of the Constitution of Virginia, the General Assembly shall reconvene Wednesday, April 2, 2025, for the purpose of considering bills and items of appropriation 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 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, Wednesday, or Thursday 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. The interim work of any such committee, subcommittee, or commission shall be completed no later than December 4, 2025.

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.