Virginia Law

A. The Virginia Code Commission (the Commission) is established in the legislative branch of state government. The Commission shall consist of not less than 11 members nor more than 13 members as follows:

1. Two members of the Senate appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules for terms coincident with their terms as members of the Senate, and two members of the House of Delegates appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates for terms coincident with their terms as members of the House of Delegates;

2. Two circuit court judges, both of whom may be retired or inactive, one appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates and one appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, for terms of four years each;

3. One former member of the House of Delegates appointed by the Speaker and one former member of the Senate appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, both for four-year terms, who shall be entitled to all the rights granted under § 30-5;

4. Three ex officio members with voting privileges as follows: (i) The Governor, or his designee, (ii) the Attorney General, or an assistant Attorney General designated by the Attorney General, and (iii) the Director of the Division of Legislative Services; and

5. One or two nonlegislative citizen members, as may be recommended by the Commission, for a four-year term who has demonstrated legal knowledge and experience in the codification of session laws and recodification of statutes. Upon recommendation of the Commission, the Speaker of the House of Delegates shall make the first appointment to the Commission and the Senate Committee on Rules the second. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments. Each member approved pursuant to this subdivision shall be entitled to all the rights granted under § 30-5.

B. All members of the Commission shall serve until the expiration of their terms or until their successors qualify. Subsequent appointments shall be made for similar terms, and vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired terms in the manner of the original appointments.

C. Current legislative members of the Commission shall receive compensation as provided in § 30-19.12. Other members of the Commission shall receive compensation as provided in § 2.2-2813 for their services. All members shall be reimbursed for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as provided in §§ 2.2-2813 and 2.2-2825. Funding for the costs of compensation and expenses of the members shall be provided from existing appropriations to the Commission.

D. The Division of Legislative Services shall provide staff support to the Commission. The Commission may also directly employ part-time or full-time personnel as needs occur, including experts who have special knowledge of specific titles of the Code being revised.

E. A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum. The Commission shall elect a chairman and vice-chairman from among its membership. Meetings of the Commission shall be held at the call of the chairman or whenever the majority of the members so request.

1983, c. 260, §§ 9-77.4, 9-77.5, 9-77.6; 1988, c. 238; 1990, c. 457; 1993, c. 607; 2001, c. 844; 2004, c. 1000; 2010, c. 413; 2011, c. 848.

The Commission is charged with the responsibility of publishing and maintaining a Code of the general and permanent statutes of the Commonwealth. The Commission shall also have the responsibility of publishing and maintaining the Virginia Administrative Code, and publishing the Virginia Register of Regulations as provided for in § 2.2-4031.

The Commission may arrange for the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Administrative Code, and the Virginia Register of Regulations to be (i) printed and published by or at the expense of the Commonwealth and sold and otherwise distributed by the Commonwealth or (ii) privately printed and published, under the direction and supervision of the Commission and upon such terms as the Commission may provide, and sold and distributed by the publisher upon such terms, including terms as to price, as the Commission may provide.

The Commission shall have full discretion to arrange for the publication of annotated or unannotated copies of the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Administrative Code, and the Virginia Register of Regulations; to fix the number of volumes; and to decide all questions of form, makeup and arrangement, including title pages, prefaces, annotations, indices, tables of contents and reference, appendices, paper, type, binding and lettering. The Commission may arrange for the Code of Virginia and the Virginia Administrative Code to be made permanent editions and kept current by means of supplements and replacement volumes.

1983, c. 260, § 9-77.7; 1992, c. 216; 2001, c. 844; 2003, c. 212.

A. The Commission may enter into contracts with any reputable person for such editorial work, printing, indexing, annotating and other work as may be necessary. All parts of any code published or authorized to be published by the Commission, including statute text, regulation text, catchlines, historical citations, numbers of sections, articles, chapters and titles, frontal analyses and revisor's notes, shall become and remain the exclusive property of the Commonwealth to be used only as the Commission may direct. However, the Commission shall acknowledge a property right in and the right to copyright materials prepared and added to any code by the person preparing it. Such materials may include, inter alia, case annotations, indices, various notes concerning sections and reference tables.

B. Trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by any person contracting or proposing to contract with the Commission in connection with the publication of (i) the Code of Virginia, (ii) the Virginia Administrative Code or (iii) any other materials published by the Commission shall not be subject to public disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.). However, the person or firm shall invoke the protections of this subsection prior to or upon submission of the data or other materials to be protected and state the reasons why protection is necessary. The Commission may, in closed session, discuss, consider, review or deliberate upon proposals which contain trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by any person contracting or proposing to contract with the Commission in connection with the publication of the Code of Virginia or the Virginia Administrative Code.

1983, c. 260, § 9-77.8; 1992, c. 216; 1993, c. 505; 1994, c. 820; 2001, c. 844.

Immediately following each regular session of the General Assembly, the Commission shall arrange for the codification and incorporation into the Code of Virginia of all general and permanent statutes enacted at such regular sessions and at all special sessions that have occurred between that regular session and the immediately preceding regular session. The statutes may be incorporated by supplements to each volume, replacement of any volume or volumes, or a combination thereof.

Unless prevented by unusual circumstances, this work and the distribution of each supplement and replacement volume shall be completed prior to the date when the statutes contained in each such supplement and replacement volume become effective.

1983, c. 260, § 9-77.9; 2001, c. 844.

The Commission may correct unmistakable printer's errors, misspellings and other unmistakable errors in the statutes as incorporated into the Code of Virginia, and may make consequential changes in the titles of officers and agencies, and other purely consequential changes made necessary by the use in the statutes of titles, terminology and references, or other language no longer appropriate.

The Commission may renumber, rename, and rearrange any Code of Virginia titles, chapters, articles, and sections in the statutes adopted, and make corresponding changes in lists of chapter, article, and section headings, catchlines, and tables, when, in the judgment of the Commission, it is necessary because of any disturbance or interruption of orderly or consecutive arrangement.

The Commission may correct unmistakable errors in cross-references to Code of Virginia sections and may change cross-references to Code of Virginia sections which have become outdated or incorrect due to subsequent amendment to, revision, or repeal of the sections to which reference is made.

The Commission may omit from the statutes incorporated into the Code of Virginia provisions which, in the judgment of the Commission, are inappropriate in a code, such as emergency clauses, clauses providing for specific nonrecurring appropriations and general repealing clauses.

1983, c. 260, § 9-77.10; 1992, c. 216; 2001, c. 844.

The Commission may correct unmistakable printer's errors, misspellings and other unmistakable errors in the regulations as incorporated into the Virginia Administrative Code, and may make consequential changes in the titles of officers and agencies, and other purely consequential changes made necessary by the use in the regulations of titles, terminology and references, or other language no longer appropriate.

The Commission may renumber, rename and rearrange any Virginia Administrative Code titles, sections or other divisions within the regulations which have been proposed, adopted or have become effective and make corresponding changes in lists of subject and section headings, catchlines and tables, when in the judgment of the Commission it is necessary because of any disturbance or interruption of orderly or consecutive arrangement.

The Commission may correct unmistakable errors in the cross-references to Code of Virginia or Virginia Administrative Code sections and may change cross-references to such sections which have become outdated or incorrect due to subsequent amendment to, revision or repeal of the sections to which reference is made.

The Commission may omit from the regulations incorporated into the Virginia Administrative Code provisions which, in the judgment of the Commission, are inappropriate in a code, including, but not limited to, (i) effective date clauses and (ii) severability clauses, which are provided for under § 2.2-4004.

1993, c. 669, § 9-77.10:1; 2001, c. 844.

The Commission shall review the Code of Virginia and uncodified provisions in the Virginia Acts of Assembly to identify obsolete chapters, articles, sections, or enactments. The Commission shall from time to time, but not less than every four years, make such recommendation to the General Assembly through legislation amending or repealing such statutes or acts as the Commission deems appropriate.

2000, c. 153, § 9-77.10:2; 2001, c. 844; 2007, c. 614.

The Code of Virginia shall continue to be gradually revised by revising one title at a time. The Commission shall have the responsibility for drafting title revision and recodification bills for introduction into the General Assembly. During the recodification or title revision process, the Commission shall evaluate the need for and recommend the repeal of any section or provision relating to the revised title that has not been implemented during any of the previous five years because sufficient funds were not appropriated by the General Assembly. The House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations shall assist the Commission in determining which sections and provisions of the Code of Virginia meet these conditions for repeal. In the revision of each title, all other sections of the Code of Virginia relating to the same subject matter shall be revised to the extent necessary. Whenever in a title revision or recodification bill an existing section of a title of the Code of Virginia is repealed and replaced with a renumbered section and that section so repealed was effective with an uncodified enactment, the repeal of that section, alone, shall not affect the uncodified enactment. The title revision or recodification bill shall expressly repeal the uncodified enactment in order for the enactment to be repealed.

Whenever, during any session of the General Assembly, there shall have been enacted any statute purporting to revise, rearrange, amend, and recodify any title of the Code of Virginia, such statute shall be deemed to have been enacted prior to any other statute enacted at such session adding to, repealing, or amending and reenacting any portion of such title. Every such other statute shall be deemed to have so added to, repealed, or amended and reenacted, as the case may be, such title as so revised, rearranged, amended, and recodified. Effect shall be given to any such other, or subsequent, statute only to the extent of any apparent changes in the law as it existed prior to such session.

1968, c. 124, § 9-77.11; 1983, c. 260; 1992, c. 216; 1999, c. 121; 2000, c. 154; 2001, c. 844; 2007, c. 614.

Repealed by Acts 2012, cc. 688 and 708, cl. 2.

The Commission, in conjunction with the Virginia State Bar, shall arrange for the incorporation of all advisory opinions issued by the Virginia State Bar's Standing Committees on Legal Ethics, Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation, and Unauthorized Practice of Law into the Code of Virginia. Such opinions, including appropriate indices, may be incorporated into the Code of Virginia by the addition of a volume to the Code and kept current by means of pocket parts or supplements and by replacement volumes.

1991, c. 564, § 9-77.11:02; 2001, c. 844; 2002, c. 306.

The Code Commission shall annually arrange for the codification and incorporation into the Code of Virginia of all general, special and limited compacts to which the Commonwealth is a party. Within the discretion of the Commission, such incorporation may be through insertion within the existing text and organization of the Code of Virginia or as a freestanding volume.

The Commission shall, on or before July 1 of each year, transmit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth a copy of each new, amended or repealed compact as it was adopted by the Commonwealth in accordance with § 2.2-403.

2001, c. 100, § 9-77.11:03.

A. In conjunction with the responsibility granted to the Commission for publishing and maintaining the Virginia Administrative Code as set forth in § 30-146, the Commission shall continually monitor the operation of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) and the Virginia Register Act (§ 2.2-4100 et seq.) to ensure that those laws provide the most practical means to administrative agencies of the Commonwealth for the promulgation, amendment and repeal of administrative law within the powers granted to such agencies by the General Assembly, and to recommend from time to time such changes as it deems appropriate.

B. The Commission may appoint an Administrative Law Advisory Committee to assist the Commission in fulfilling its responsibilities under subsection A. The chair of the Advisory Committee may be a member of and shall be appointed by the Commission.

1. The Advisory Committee shall be a legislative branch agency and may consist of representatives from state agencies, the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, the regulated communities, consumer and other public interest groups, local governments, the bar and the academic community. The number of members shall be determined by the Commission but shall not exceed 12. Members shall serve two-year terms and shall be reimbursed for their expenses incurred in attending meetings and other functions of the Advisory Committee.

2. The Advisory Committee shall submit an annual work plan and budget to the Commission for approval. Funds necessary to support any such budget approved by the Commission shall be paid from sums appropriated to the Commission. The Commission may authorize the Advisory Committee to undertake research projects, hire consultants, sponsor conferences, hold public hearings, conduct surveys and engage in other efforts consistent with assisting the Commission in fulfilling its responsibilities under subsection A. The Advisory Committee shall report its findings and recommendations annually to the Code Commission, and that report shall be forwarded to the Governor and the General Assembly.

3. Staff assistance shall be provided to the Advisory Committee by the Division of Legislative Services.

1983, c. 260, § 9-77.12; 1992, c. 216; 1994, c. 318; 2001, c. 844; 2006, c. 157.